Post on 15-Oct-2021
CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY
Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería de Bilbao
UPV/EHU
Fernando LARTATEGUI ATELA
AIRCRAFT PERFORMANCE WITH ONBOARD WATER
CONDENSED FROM ENGINE CORE EXHAUST FOR CONTRAIL
PREVENTION
Comportamiento de aeronaves transportando agua condensada del
escape para prevenir la formación de estelas
SCHOOL OF AEROSPACE, TRANSPORT AND
MANUFACTURING
Thermal Power MSc
MSc THESIS
Academic Year: 2015 - 2016
UPV/EHU Supervisor: Dr C. Pinto
Cranfield Univ. Supervisors: Prof P. Pilidis & Dr D. Nalianda
August 2016
CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF AEROSPACE, TRANSPORT AND
MANUFACTURING
Thermal Power MSc
MSc Thesis
Academic Year 2015 - 2016
Fernando Lartategui Atela
Aircraft Performance with Onboard Water Condensed from
Engine Core Exhaust for Contrail Prevention
Supervisors: Prof P. Pilidis & Dr D. Nalianda
August 2016
This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for
the degree of Master of Science
© Cranfield University 2016. All rights reserved. No part of this
publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the
copyright owner.
i
ABSTRACT
Aviation industry has experienced a constant growth over the last decades, and
forecasts suggest that this trend will continue. This is not attractive from an
environmental point of view due to the increasing contribution of aviation to Global
Warming. Significant research has been done on aircraft emissions. It suggests
that the impact of contrails and aircraft induced cirrus formed by water vapour
within the engine might be significant enough to be a concern.
Consequently, several contrail avoidance strategies have been designed during
the last two decades, but they all present the same drawback: a fuel
overconsumption. One of these strategies consists in condensing the water
vapour within the engine, so that it can be stored on the aircraft or released into
the atmosphere in a controlled manner. This technique is the basis of the current
work.
The aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility of storing water onboard and
establish the effects it may have on aircraft performance. To assess the penalties
of the technique, an analytical model of the aircraft capable of water storage was
developed. Once the penalties were determined, the net balance between the
positive effect of contrail prevention and the negative effect of the additionally
emitted CO2 is calculated.
From these analyses, it was concluded that if contrails are avoided in 2020 a 40-
50% reduction in total aviation radiative forcing could be achieved in 2050 due to
this contrails prevention technique. However, the water-carrying aircraft
experienced a 23.23% range reduction for the same fuel and a 17.35% fuel burn
penalty for the same range in comparison to the design point of the baseline
aircraft.
Keywords:
fuel burn penalty, global warming, payload, radiative forcing, range, reduction,
water storage
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to those who accompanied me
during this exciting adventure with a special mention.
A very special thanks to my supervisors Dr Devaiah Nalianda and Prof Pericles
Pilidis for their guidance through my MSc thesis, and for helping me when I was
lost. The Global Warming meetings were precious and a steady source of
motivation and ideas.
I would also like to express my gratitude to the PhD student Sarah Qureshi for
the help and inspiration provided during all this project.
The valuable conversations with Prof Riti Singh about Global Warming and
Global Cooling are gratefully acknowledged too.
I would also want to thank the support received from Dr Theoklis Nikolaidis, who
helped me with the engine creation using Turbomatch.
Additionally, I would also want to acknowledge to my group colleagues Shaila
Baghail and Ahmed Mahmoud, with whom I share ideas for the common interest.
Finally, I have to mention and express my gratitude to my family, friends and
especially, to my beautiful girlfriend, Oli, who supported me during this adventure.
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................... iii
LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................ vii
LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................... ix
NOMENCLATURE ............................................................................................. xi
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .............................................................................. xiii
1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1
1.1 Evolution of civil aviation ........................................................................... 1
1.2 Aircraft environmental impact ................................................................... 1
1.3 Project context .......................................................................................... 4
1.4 Aims and methodology ............................................................................. 5
1.5 Thesis structure ........................................................................................ 6
2 LITERATURE SURVEY .................................................................................. 7
2.1 Contrails .................................................................................................... 7
2.1.1 Mechanism of formation ..................................................................... 7
2.1.2 Contrail prediction ............................................................................ 10
2.2 Global Warming ...................................................................................... 15
2.2.1 Quantification of Global Warming impact ......................................... 16
2.2.2 Global Warming impact of aircraft emissions ................................... 19
2.3 Contrail avoidance strategies .................................................................. 22
2.3.1 Air traffic adjustment......................................................................... 22
2.3.2 Clean exhaust engine concept ......................................................... 24
2.3.3 Other technologies ........................................................................... 27
3 AIRCRAFT AND ENGINE MODELS ............................................................. 29
3.1 Three-spool high bypass turbofan engine ............................................... 30
3.1.1 Engine specifications ........................................................................ 30
3.1.2 Assumptions ..................................................................................... 32
3.1.3 Engine model design ........................................................................ 32
3.1.4 Engine model validation ................................................................... 34
3.2 Large wide-body aircraft ......................................................................... 35
3.2.1 Aircraft specifications ....................................................................... 36
3.2.2 Assumptions and considerations ...................................................... 37
3.2.3 Aircraft model design ........................................................................ 38
3.2.4 Aircraft model validation ................................................................... 40
4 AIRCRAFT PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT WITH WATER STORAGE .... 43
4.1 Aircraft performance analysis ................................................................. 43
4.1.1 Assumptions and considerations ...................................................... 44
4.1.2 Aircraft baseline model algorithm ..................................................... 44
4.1.3 Water storage model algorithm ........................................................ 48
4.1.4 Water storage model implementation ............................................... 51
vi
4.1.5 Matlab model validation .................................................................... 56
4.2 Global Warming analysis ........................................................................ 57
4.2.1 Global Warming metric selection ...................................................... 58
4.2.2 Global Warming impact of contrails and CO2 ................................... 58
5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ...................................................................... 61
5.1 Aircraft performance ............................................................................... 61
5.1.1 Range reduction analysis ................................................................. 61
5.1.2 Fuel burn penalty analysis ................................................................ 64
5.2 Global Warming analysis ........................................................................ 70
5.2.1 Analysis of the radiative forcing of CO2 ............................................ 70
5.2.2 Analysis of the radiative forcing of total aviation without AIC ........... 72
5.2.3 Analysis of the radiative forcing of total aviation with AIC ................ 73
5.3 Discussion of results ............................................................................... 75
5.3.1 Aircraft performance ......................................................................... 75
5.3.2 Global Warming analysis .................................................................. 83
6 CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK ........................................................ 87
6.1 Conclusions ............................................................................................ 87
6.2 Future work ............................................................................................. 89
REFERENCES ................................................................................................. 91
APPENDICES .................................................................................................. 97
vii
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1-1: CO2, CH4 and N2O concentrations from year 0 to 2005 (IPCC 2007) .................................................................................................................... 2
Figure 2-1: Water Phase diagram (Noppel 2007) ............................................... 8
Figure 2-2: Photo of persistent contrails (Penner et al. 1999) .......................... 10
Figure 2-3: Geometrical analysis for contrail formation (Noppel 2007) ............. 12
Figure 2-4: Airbus A340 producing contrails and Boeing B707 without contrails flying at 10.5 km altitude (Schumann 2000) ............................................... 14
Figure 2-5: Water phase diagram with different mixing lines with different ambient conditions (Minnis 2003) ............................................................................ 15
Figure 2-6: Aircraft emissions and climate change (Lee et al. 2009) ................ 16
Figure 2-7: Global radiative components in 2005 (Lee et al. 2009) .................. 18
Figure 2-8: Aviation Radiative Forcing Components in 2005 (Lee et al. 2009) 20
Figure 3-1: Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines series cutaway (McAlpine 2016) .. 30
Figure 3-2: Scheme of the three-spool high bypass turbofan engine ............... 33
Figure 3-3: Airbus A380 (Airbus 2016) ............................................................. 36
Figure 3-4: A380 Payload-Range diagram (Airbus 2014) ................................. 37
Figure 3-5: Payload-range diagram of Hermes aircraft model and A380 ......... 40
Figure 4-1: Scheme of the cruise segment algorithm ....................................... 45
Figure 4-2: Algorithm to calculate engine drag ................................................. 45
Figure 4-3: Algorithm to calculate engine fuel consumption ............................. 47
Figure 4-4: Algorithm to calculate segment final weight ................................... 48
Figure 4-5: Algorithm to calculate segment final weight in water storage model .................................................................................................................. 49
Figure 4-6: Expected behaviour of the water-storing aircraft range. ................. 50
Figure 4-7: Algorithm of engine drag calculation with inputs/outputs ................ 52
Figure 4-8: Algorithm of the fuel consumption calculation with inputs/outputs . 52
Figure 4-9: Inputs/Outputs for the segment distance calculation ...................... 53
Figure 4-10: Algorithm of the segment final weight calculation with inputs/outputs .................................................................................................................. 53
viii
Figure 5-1: Baseline aircraft payload-range diagram and different limitations of the water storage aircraft payload-range diagram ..................................... 62
Figure 5-2: Baseline aircraft and water storage aircraft payload-range diagrams .................................................................................................................. 63
Figure 5-3: Aircraft total weight variation during cruise ..................................... 65
Figure 5-4: Thrust required variation during cruise ........................................... 66
Figure 5-5: SFC variation during cruise ............................................................ 67
Figure 5-6: Total fuel burnt during cruise .......................................................... 68
Figure 5-7: CO2 radiative forcing of the different scenarios for the three assumed cases ......................................................................................................... 71
Figure 5-8: Total aviation radiative forcing of the different scenarios for the three assumed cases (AIC not considered) ........................................................ 73
Figure 5-9: Total aviation radiative forcing of the different scenarios for the three assumed cases (AIC considered) .............................................................. 74
Figure 5-10: Fuel burn penalty sensitivity analysis ........................................... 79
Figure 5-11: Payload-range diagrams of the baseline aircraft and different water storage configuration aircraft for the same amount of fuel ......................... 81
ix
LIST OF TABLES
Table 2-1: Contrail-Cirrus coverage over different areas and globally .............. 21
Table 3-1: Trent 970-84 data for cruise and T/O conditions ............................. 31
Table 3-2: Compressor and turbine stages of the Trent 900 series engines (EASA 2013) ......................................................................................................... 31
Table 3-3: Optimised values for Turbomatch input file ..................................... 34
Table 3-4: Validation of engine model results................................................... 35
Table 3-5: Weight specification data of Airbus A380 ........................................ 36
Table 3-6: Range and payload deviations of the Hermes model ...................... 41
Table 4-1: Inputs/Outputs of the range reduction function ................................ 54
Table 4-2: Inputs/Outputs of the fuel burn penalty analysis .............................. 55
Table 4-3: Validation of Matlab model .............................................................. 57
Table 4-4: Advantages and disadvantages of different GW metrics ................. 58
Table 5-1: Range reduction analysis ................................................................ 63
Table 5-2: Initial and final values of aircraft total weight during cruise .............. 65
Table 5-3: Initial and final values of thrust during cruise ................................... 66
Table 5-4: Initial and final values of SFC during cruise .................................... 67
Table 5-5: Initial and final values of total fuel burnt during cruise ..................... 69
Table 5-6: Range reduction in magnitude and in percentage terms ................. 76
Table 5-7: Fuel burn penalty of points with shorter range and DP payload ...... 78
Table 5-8: Fuel burn penalty of points with smaller payload and DP range ...... 79
Table 5-9: DP range reduction of the water storage configurations on the payload-range diagram ........................................................................................... 82
Table 5-10: Fuel burn penalty of the water storage configurations ................... 83
Table C-1: Abbreviation of different scenarios in 2050 ................................... 107
Table C-2: Aviation fuel consumption of the different scenarios (Lee et al. 2009) ................................................................................................................ 107
Table C-3: Radiative forcing of aviation emissions in years 2005, 2020 and 2050 Adopted from (Lee et al. 2009) ................................................................ 108
x
Table C-4: Radiative forcing of aviation emissions if contrails are prevented in 2005......................................................................................................... 108
Table C-5: Radiative forcing of aviation emission if contrails are prevented in 2020 ................................................................................................................ 108
Table C-6: CO2 radiative forcing of the different future scenarios for the three assumed cases ........................................................................................ 109
Table C-7: Total aviation radiative forcing of the different future scenarios for the three assumed cases (AIC not considered) ............................................. 110
Table C-8: Total aviation radiative forcing of the different future scenarios for the three assumed cases (AIC considered) ................................................... 110
Table C-9: Total aviation radiative forcing of the different future scenarios for the three assumed cases (AIC considered) [Minimum AIC RF values] ......... 111
Table C-10: Total aviation radiative forcing of the different future scenarios for the three assumed cases (AIC considered) [Maximum AIC RF values] ........ 111
xi
NOMENCLATURE
SYMBOLS
CD Drag coefficient [-]
CD0 Profile drag coefficient [-]
CDl Lift dependent coefficient [-]
CL Lift coefficient [-]
cp Specific heat capacity [J/(kg K)]
D Drag [N]
G Slope of the mixing line [-]
g Gravity acceleration [m/s2]
h Altitude [m]
L/D Lift to drag ratio [-]
M Mach number [-]
Md Molar weight of the droplet [kg/mol]
P Stagnation pressure [Pa]
Q Net calorific value per mass of fuel [J/kg]
R Ideal gas constant [J/(mol K)]
rd Droplet radius [m]
S Wing reference area [m2]
T Stagnation temperature [K]
TAS True Airspeed [m/s2]
W Weight [kg]
γ Ratio of specific heat [-]
γt Surface tension [N/m]
Δ Variation [-]
ε Water vapour-to-air molar mass ratio [-]
η Overall engine efficiency [-]
λ Climate feedback parameter [(K m2)/W]
ρ Density [kg/m3]
xii
SUBSCRIPTS AND SUPERSCRIPTS
A/C Aircraft
amb Ambient conditions
cri Critical conditions
d Droplet
eng Engine
exh Exhaust conditions
LW Long-wave
s Saturation conditions
seg Cruise segment
surf Earth surface conditions
SW Short-wave
w Water
xiii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
AAGR Average Annual Growth Rate
AIC Aircraft Induced Cirrus
Avtur Aviation turbine fuel
BPR Bypass Pressure Ratio
CCC Committee on Climate Change
CEEC Clean Exhaust Engine Concept
CH4 Methane
CO2 Carbon dioxide
COT Combustor Outlet Temperature
DP Design Point
EASA European Aviation Safety Agency
EI Emission index (Subscripts of water and CO2 are not included)
Ex Excel output
GHG Greenhouse gas
GTP Global Temperature Potential
GTPP Global Temperature Potential (Pulsed emissions)
GTPS Global Temperature Potential (Sustained emissions)
GW Global Warming
GWP Global Warming Potential
H2O Water or Water Vapour
He Hermes input
HP High Pressure
ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization
IP Intermediate Pressure
IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
LOSU Level Of Scientific Understanding
LP Low Pressure
NOx Nitrogen Oxides (NO & NO2)
O3 Ozone
OD Off Design Point
PR Pressure Ratio
RF Radiative Forcing
xiv
RFI Radiative Forcing Index
RH Relative Humidity
RR Rolls-Royce
S/L Sea Level
SAE Society of Automotive Engineers
SFC Specific Fuel Consumption
T/O Take off
1
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Evolution of civil aviation
During the 20th-century, civil aviation experienced an extraordinary growth and
development. This growing trend has continued over the last decades. According
to reference (Lee et al. 2009), the Average Annual Growth Rate (AAGR) in
passenger traffic was 5.3% between 2000 and 2007, what resulted in a 38%
increase in passenger traffic in that period. Analysing some future scenarios, the
expected AAGR in passenger traffic between 2015 and 2034 is 4.6%, what would
double air traffic from 2015 to 2030 (Airbus 2015). During the period 2030-2040,
AAGR is expected to moderate to 4% as stated in reference (ICAO 2013b).
Although air traffic growth is positive for Aviation Industry, it presents some
environmental challenges. To help avoid those issues, the technology of the jet
engines evolves year after year resulting in more efficient, cleaner and quieter
engines. As a result of the effort of Engine Manufacturers, aircraft engines have
become 75% quieter and 80% more energy efficient over the last 50 years (ICAO
2013b). Despite this significant improvement, the growth of air traffic is greater
than the reduction of aircraft emissions. Therefore, aircraft environmental impact
is expected to increase in the following years. In fact, aviation emissions growth
is predicted to be around 70% by 2020 and 200-300% by 2050 taking the year
2006 as a baseline (Runge-Metzger 2011).
One of the most notable environmental impacts of aviation is linked to the Global
Warming produced by the Greenhouse Effect. Aircraft engines emit CO2 and H2O
as a consequence of the combustion of fossil fuels, which are major contributors
to the Greenhouse effect.
1.2 Aircraft environmental impact
The environmental impact of Aviation is specially reflected on atmospheric
pollution. The atmosphere is a protective layer of air that shields cosmic radiation
coming from the Sun. This cosmic radiation increases the temperature of the
atmosphere because some of the air molecules, mainly carbon dioxide and water
vapour, absorb and emit thermal radiation. The effect of preventing thermal
2
radiation from leaving the Earth’s atmosphere is known as Greenhouse Effect
The gases that enhance this effect are consequently known as Greenhouse
Gases (GHG): water vapour (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4) and
Nitrous Oxide (N2O) (BEACON n.d.).
After the industrialisation process started in 18th-century, the concentration of
Greenhouse Gases has increased at an accelerated rate, as shown in Figure 1-1.
As a consequence, global mean temperature experienced an accelerated rise,
increasing in 0.6-0.9ºC between 1906 and 2005. In addition, the rate of
temperature has almost doubled from 1960 to 2010 (Riebeek 2010). The increase
on the average temperature of the Earth is known as Global Warming.
Figure 1-1: CO2, CH4 and N2O concentrations from year 0 to 2005 (IPCC 2007)
Aviation has also contributed to this effect due to the emissions of CO2 and water
vapour, and the contrail and aircraft induced cirrus clouds formation.
Carbon dioxide and water vapour are combustion products of the typical aviation
fuel, the kerosene. Both gases are relatively strong greenhouse gases. According
to reference (ICAO 2013b), the aviation emissions of CO2 are currently about 2%
of all anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions.
3
The direct contribution of CO2 to Global Warming is much more significant than
water vapour’s in the upper troposphere, because of the larger emission index
and longer residence time of CO2. However, water emitted in the stratosphere
can have longer residence times than troposphere water, which precipitates
relatively shortly after being emitted. Additionally, water plays an essential role in
contrails’ and cirrus clouds’ formation, which have a significant effect on Global
Warming.
The formation of contrails and induced cirrus clouds is influenced by many
effects, such as chemical reactions in the plume, ice microphysics, wake
dynamics, state of the atmosphere, atmospheric dispersion rates and engine
technology (Noppel 2007).
For contrails formation, water vapour emissions react in the aircraft plume
producing ice crystals. These particles have two effects: reflecting cosmic
radiation back to space and scattering long-wave radiation, coming from Earth’s
surface, back to the ground. In average, as the backscattering of terrestrial
radiation is greater than the reflection of cosmic radiation, contrails contribute to
Global Warming.
There are two kinds of contrails, persistent and non-persistent. If they persist in
the upper troposphere, they can spread out horizontally by wind shear forming a
contrail cirrus cloud. The impact of cirrus clouds into Global Warming has a great
uncertainty and at present, it cannot be accurately estimated. Some recent
studies suggest that contrail cirrus impact may be significant enough to be a
concern (Burkhardt and Kärcher 2011).
Because of the big impact these gases have on Global Warming, significant
research on techniques to avoid them has been conducted recently. To reduce
CO2 and water vapour emissions, more efficient engines are required. This way,
they would burn less fuel and produce less CO2 and water vapour. There are
other techniques, such as CO2 filters, that are being investigated. The motivation
for these efforts has been double: on one hand, ethics oblige the companies to
do their best on avoiding aircraft environmental impact; on the other hand, the
4
legislation on CO2 emissions is getting more severe and establishes strict limits
for CO2 emissions
For contrail and cirrus clouds prevention, on the contrary, there is not any current
legislation. Thus, the amount of research on contrail and cirrus clouds avoidance
has been significantly lower.
1.3 Project context
To fill in this gap, the Propulsion Centre of Cranfield University has formed a
research group that focuses its efforts on analysing techniques to reduce the
environmental impact of civil aircraft by preventing contrails, in foresight of future
legislation on the field. This MSc project is part of this research group.
Several studies have been carried out in order to analyse the impact of contrails
and induced cirrus on Global Warming and then, how to reduce that effect. In the
last few years, different technologies have been created to reduce contrail
formation, and also, to prevent it.
Reference (Noppel 2007) discusses several contrail avoidance strategies and
also proposed a novel engine configuration using an intercooled recuperated
engine. This engine had an additional heat exchanger attached for exhaust water
vapour condensation.
Additionally, reference (Qureshi 2016) develops the design of a device for the
purpose of aero engine exhaust water vapour condensation. It involves the
condensation and separation of the water vapour from the core exhaust emission
as well as water collection within the engine. This device enables the collection
of all the water produced from the fuel combustion process.
The contrail avoidance technique considered by these two investigations is based
on water condensation and collection from engine core exhaust. Then, that water
could be stored on the aircraft or released into the atmosphere (Noppel, Lucisano,
and Singh 2009). For this study, the case of storing all the water produced by fuel
combustion during cruise is considered, assuming that this water is released at a
5
lower altitude after cruise phase is completed. The condensed water is assumed
to be stored in the fuel tanks separated from the fuel by a membrane.
This strategy, apart from the technical challenges addressed by reference
(Qureshi 2016), implies significant changes on aircraft performance, as the
weight of the aircraft will increase during cruise, instead of decreasing.
Current aircraft are designed to experience a weight reduction during cruise as a
consequence of burning the fuel. The weight affects the drag of the aircraft.
During cruise, the thrust produced by the engines needs to be equal to this drag.
To produce thrust the engines need to burn fuel. As a consequence, drag
decreases with weight during cruise, resulting in reduced thrust requirements and
fuel consumption. This way, the weight of the aircraft defines how much fuel is
needed to complete a mission, or how long this mission can be. Then, the
implications of increasing the weight by storing the condensed water are sensed
in two ways:
The reduced range for a given amount of fuel
The augmented fuel consumption for a given range
The research questions of the present project are defined attending to these
challenges of the water storage technique. Firstly, the investigation of the
feasibility of storing water onboard during cruise and establish the effects it may
have on aircraft performance has to be carried out. Secondly, once this analysis
is performed, the benefit of the elimination of the contrail regarding Global
Warming reduction has to be evaluated.
1.4 Aims and methodology
The main purpose of this thesis is to analyse the changes in aircraft performance
due to the inclusion of the contrail prevention technique based on collection and
storage of water produced during fuel combustion. Once this analysis is carried
out, the secondary aim can be addressed. This consists on an assessment of the
net Global Warming benefit obtained by eliminating contrails and induced cirrus,
considering the additional CO2 produced by the technique. If the net benefit
6
results positive, the environmental feasibility of this contrail avoidance method
could be proved.
The methodology to fulfil these aims comprises the following steps:
Achieve a good understanding of contrail formation.
Obtain a baseline model of a three-spool high bypass turbofan engine
inspired by the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 using the engine performance
software Turbomatch.
Obtain the baseline model of a large wide-body aircraft inspired by the
Airbus A380 using the aircraft performance software Hermes.
Create the aircraft model carrying water based on the aircraft inspired by
Airbus A380 using the software Matlab.
Conduct an aircraft performance analysis between both aircraft models
and study the range reduction and the fuel burn penalty due to the water
storage technique.
Select a method to measure the Global Warming impact.
Assess the environmental effect of the contrail prevention technique.
1.5 Thesis structure
The present thesis is divided into 6 chapters. This first chapter has briefly
introduced the topic and the objectives of the current project. Chapter 2 reviews
the fundamental science and technology related to the Global Warming impact of
contrail avoidance techniques. Chapter 3 provides the methodology followed to
create the aircraft and engine baseline models.
In chapter 4 the methodology to study the aircraft performance due to the water
storage is detailed. It is followed by the explanation of the Global Warming
analysis. Chapter 5 shows the results of the the implementation of the water
storage technique. In addition, a discussion of the results is included. Finally, in
chapter 6 the conclusions and future work on this topic are detailed. The
appendices contain the input codes of Turbomatch and Hermes, and additional
information about the Global Warming analysis.
7
2 LITERATURE SURVEY
This chapter reviews the fundamental science and technology related to the
Global Warming impact of contrail avoidance techniques. Due to the complexity
and multidisciplinary character of the topic, the key elements of contrails and
Global Warming are presented so that contrail avoidance strategies can be
understood correctly.
2.1 Contrails
Condensation trails, commonly known as contrails, are thin artificial clouds
produced by jet engines on the aircraft path under certain conditions. The contrail
is the most visible aircraft effect of aircraft on the atmosphere, and for this reason,
they were first observed as early as 1919. But they were not studied until World
War II, as the presence of aircraft was indicated by the formation of contrails
(Schrader 1997). Due to the increasing jet traffic, the formation of condensation
trails was a common appreciable effect since the 1960s. Concerns over the
impact of contrails on the atmosphere and climate arose in the 1990s, what led
to numerous researches (Minnis 2003).
2.1.1 Mechanism of formation
The formation process of contrails is influenced by many variables, but the
present analysis will focus only on the principal ones, which are state of the
atmosphere, chemical reactions in the plume and engine technology. The other
variables were mentioned in Section 1.2.
Aircraft jet engines are thermodynamic machines that utilise air as the working
fluid, producing the necessary thrust to allow the aircraft for reaching a high
altitude and then, sustaining flight at that altitude. Jet engines are based on
Brayton thermodynamic cycle. According to this cycle, air enters the engine
through the intake, and then it is compressed, mixed with fuel and burnt in the
combustion chamber, expanded in the turbines and finally emitted through the
nozzle. The shaft power required by the compressors is provided by turbines,
which also provide some mechanical power for aircraft electricity generation. The
8
exhaust gases consist of a hot mixture of incoming air and combustion products,
which are ejected at high velocities. The content of some exhaust gases is
described in Section 2.3.2.1 defining their corresponding emission index.
Once the exhaust gases get in contact with ambient air, they experience a drastic
cooling. This sudden temperature drop can result in a phase change to liquid or
solid, depending on pressure and temperature, as illustrated in Figure 2-1. In this
figure, different phases are represented as well as their corresponding phase
changes. The triple point, in which the three phases coexist, is also included.
Figure 2-1: Water Phase diagram (Noppel 2007)
The water vapour ejected from the aircraft exhaust can push the local
atmospheric content of water over the saturation limit, causing water droplets
formation. As droplets are formed, the water molecules attraction, known as
capillary force, increases the pressure inside the droplet, changing its phase from
liquid to gas, and hence, preventing the formation of droplets. These conditions
9
enhance the emergence of a supersaturated ambient, in which water in gaseous
phase exists, even if temperature and pressure conditions in water phase
diagram suggest liquid or solid phase. This supersaturated ambient condition is
required for water condensation.
If small particles, such as aerosols, are present in the atmosphere or in the
exhaust ejected flow, condensation is promoted due to the increase in the
cohesion force between water and the particle. Then, the amount of ambient
supersaturation required to enable condensation depends on the size and
material of these particles. Equation (2-1) provides a relationship between the
amount of supersaturation, molar weight, size and temperature of the water
droplet. This equation is known as Kelvin Equation, and its derivation was
provided in reference (Galvin 2005). If a more detailed understanding of Kelvin
equation is required, refer to (Garrett 2016). The amount of supersaturation is
measured using relative humidity (RH), which is the water vapour pressure-to-
saturation pressure ratio, as shown in equation (2-2). In a supersaturated
ambient, RH is over 100%. If RH is below 100%, the evaporation rate is greater
than condensation rate, which results in no water droplets formation (Williams,
Noland, and Toumi 2002).
𝑃𝑤 = 𝑃𝑠 𝑒𝑥𝑝 (𝑀𝑑
𝜌𝑑 𝑅 𝑇𝑤 2 𝛾𝑡
𝑟𝑑) (2-1)
𝑅𝐻 =𝑃𝑤
𝑃𝑠 (2-2)
In these equations, 𝑃𝑤 is the water vapour pressure, 𝑃𝑠 is the water saturation
pressure, 𝑀𝑑 is the molar weight of the droplet, 𝑟𝑑 is the radius of the droplet, 𝜌𝑑
is the density, 𝑅 is the ideal gas constant, 𝛾𝑡 is the surface tension, and 𝑇𝑤 is the
water vapour temperature. SI units must be used for all the parameters.
Once ambient supersaturation is achieved, some of the water droplets will freeze
into ice crystals due to the low local ambient temperatures and pressures. This
effect will eventually form the condensation trail behind the aircraft. The
equilibrium between ice crystals, cooled water and water vapour is driven by a
thermodynamic process called the Bergeron process. For more details, see
10
reference (College of Dupage n.d.). Contrails persistence depends on the
ambient conditions. If the ambient is supersaturated enough with regard to ice,
contrails will persist. The persistence of contrails is explained in more detail in
Section 2.1.2.
Figure 2-2: Photo of persistent contrails (Penner et al. 1999)
In conclusion, contrail formation occurs if the mixing process of hot exhaust gases
and ambient air reaches a supersaturated state with respect to water, forming
liquid drops, which quickly freeze, producing ice crystals (Appleman 1953).
Depending on the amount of supersaturation, two kinds of contrails can be
formed: persistent and non-persistent contrails. The atmospheric relative
humidity is a crucial factor in contrail formation and persistence (Turgut and
Rosen 2011). In Figure 2-2, typical persistent contrails can be observed. There
are four contrails just behind each aircraft, one per jet engine, and then they mix
together.
2.1.2 Contrail prediction
The first studies for predicting the formation of contrails were undertaken
independently by E. Schmidt in Germany [1941] and H. Appleman in the USA
[1953]. They came up with a criterion that, according to reference (Schrader
1997), is considered even today as the definitive technique to forecast contrails.
11
This principle is known as the Schmidt-Appleman criteria, and it explains contrail
formation using a geometrical approach of the mixing of hot exhaust gases and
ambient air on a water phase diagram. Later studies carried out by Schumann
[1996] suggested that the saturation requirement established in Schmidt-
Appleman criteria is respect to water.
The following assumptions are considered by the Schmidt-Appleman criteria. As
their results have been validated, the scientific community has accepted these
assumptions (Roig Medina 2014). However, they are considered as limitations of
the criteria when applied to real cases (Schumann 1996):
The water content within the fuel chemical bond is negligible compared to
the water produced due to the chemical reaction of fuel combustion.
The enthalpy content within the fuel chemical bond is negligible compared
to the enthalpy produced due to the chemical reaction of fuel combustion.
Non-air exhaust components, such as aerosols, are neglected with large
dilution rates and small relative ambient water vapour content.
The mixing between hot jet exhaust gases and the atmosphere is adiabatic
and isobaric.
The mixing between water and heat occurs at equal rates.
Constant gaseous state is assumed during the whole mixing process.
Constant specific heat capacity value is assumed.
As explained before, Schmidt-Appleman criteria are based on the water phase
diagram, which is shown in Figure 2-3. In this chart, water vapour pressure is
introduced on the ordinate axis and stagnation temperature in abscissae.
Stagnation temperature and water vapour pressure of both engine exhaust gases
and ambient air are marked in the graph as point A and B respectively. Stagnation
temperature is measured taking the atmospheric frame as reference.
Accordingly, the ambient static temperature corresponds to the ambient
stagnation temperature. Ambient temperature and pressure calculation at a
certain altitude is explained in Section 4.1.2.1. Considering the assumptions
stated above, a line joining exhaust (point A) and ambient condition (point B) is
12
represented on the diagram. This line is known as the mixing line and it illustrates
all the intermediate states of the mixing.
Figure 2-3: Geometrical analysis for contrail formation (Noppel 2007)
Once the ambient point (B) is defined, there are two ways to calculate the slope,
G, of the mixing line (Paoli and Shariff 2016).
If the exhaust conditions are known, the slope is easily defined connecting
point A and B in Figure 2-3, as shown in equation (2-3).
𝐺 =𝑃𝑒𝑥ℎ
𝑤 − 𝑃𝑎𝑚𝑏𝑤
𝑇𝑒𝑥ℎ − 𝑇𝑎𝑚𝑏 (2-3)
In this equation, 𝑃𝑒𝑥ℎ𝑤 and 𝑇𝑒𝑥ℎ represent the exhaust water vapour
pressure and stagnation temperature, while 𝑃𝑎𝑚𝑏𝑤 and 𝑇𝑎𝑚𝑏 are the
ambient water vapour pressure and stagnation temperature, which is the
same as ambient static temperature.
Second, if the exhaust conditions are unknown or difficult to define, the
slope is calculated considering ambient conditions, fuel energy, engine
13
emission index of water vapour and engine propulsion efficiency, as shown
in equation (2-4). These equations were extracted from reference.
𝐺 =𝑐𝑝
𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝐸𝐼𝑤 𝑃𝑎𝑚𝑏
𝜀 𝑄 (1 − 𝜂) (2-4)
In this equation, 𝑐𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑟 is the specific heat capacity of air, 𝐸𝐼𝑤 is the water
vapour emission index, 𝑃𝑎𝑚𝑏 is the ambient pressure, 𝜀 is the water
vapour-to-air molar mass ratio, 𝑄 is the net calorific value per mass of fuel,
and the quantity 𝜂 represents the overall engine efficiency at cruise.
Apart from the mixing line, the water and ice saturation pressures curves,
determine the regions for the different water phases, as indicated in Figure 2-3.
Equations (2-5) and (2-6) allow for the calculation of the saturated water pressure
and saturated ice pressure, respectively, using only the ambient temperature
(Padfield n.d.). The saturated water pressure formula is known as Clausius-
Clapeyron relation.
𝑃𝑠𝑤 = 610.78 𝑒
[17.2694 ( 𝑇−273.16)(𝑇−34.86)
]
(2-5)
𝑃𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑒 = 𝑒
[28.916 − 6140.4
(𝑇−0.16)]
(2-6)
Once the water phase diagram and the mixing line are explained, their
relationship enables the contrail formation forecast in accordance with Schmidt-
Appleman criteria. On the one hand, for given ambient conditions, if the mixing
line crosses the water saturation pressure curve, droplets are formed, and
consequently, contrails. This is the case of the dashed line in Figure 2-3. On the
other hand, for the same ambient conditions, if the exhaust gases are hotter or
have a lower water content, the mixing line will not cross the water saturation
pressure curve, and hence, contrails are not formed. The dotted line in Figure 2-3
represents this case. According to Schmidt-Appleman criteria, aircraft flying at
the same altitude can produce or not contrails depending on the conditions of
exhaust gases. This phenomenon can be observed in Figure 2-4.
14
Figure 2-4: Airbus A340 producing contrails and Boeing B707 without contrails
flying at 10.5 km altitude (Schumann 2000)
Based on the previous explanation, if a line tangent to the water saturation
pressure curve at point C is defined for given ambient conditions, it can be
concluded that if the mixing line is steeper than the tangent, contrail formation will
occur. This tangent line is known as critical mixing line, and it is represented in
Figure 2-3 as a solid line. The slope of the critical mixing line, 𝐺𝑐𝑟𝑖, is calculated
joining the ambient point B and the tangency point C. Therefore, 𝐺𝑐𝑟𝑖 only
depends on environmental conditions as can be observed in equation (2-7) (Lasa
Carrillo 2014). In this equation 𝑇𝑐𝑟𝑖 is the critical temperature, which corresponds
to the temperature of the tangency point C, and 𝑃𝑠𝑤(𝑇𝑐𝑟𝑖) is the water saturation
pressure at the critical temperature.
𝐺𝑐𝑟𝑖 =𝑃𝑠
𝑤(𝑇𝑐𝑟𝑖) − 𝑃𝑎𝑚𝑏
𝑇𝑐𝑟𝑖 − 𝑇𝑎𝑚𝑏 (2-7)
Persistence of contrails depends on the ambient ice saturation. Hence, given the
ambient conditions, if the ambient water vapour pressure exceeds the ice
saturation pressure, the contrail formed will be persistent. Graphically, this means
15
that the point of the environmental conditions (B) is above the ice saturation line
in Figure 2-3. According to reference (Schumann 2005), contrails are short-lived
if the ambient is dry. Consequently, if the ambient point (B) is below this line, ice
crystals will sublimate, and the contrail will vanish. These two situations are
known as persistent contrails and non-persistent or threshold contrails
respectively, and they are represented in Figure 2-5. Persistent contrails are
represented by the mixing line III, while the threshold contrail corresponds to the
mixing line IV. Mixing line II is the critical mixing for ambient conditions T, and
finally, the case I represents no contrail formation.
Figure 2-5: Water phase diagram with different mixing lines with different
ambient conditions (Minnis 2003)
2.2 Global Warming
Nowadays, the growing environmental awareness has led to the implantation of
regulations such as emission limitation to prevent, or at least to reduce,
greenhouse effect, and consequently, Global Warming.
The present section analyses the impact of anthropogenic emissions in Global
Warming (GW). It is divided in two subsections. The first one describes different
GW metrics including the advantages and disadvantages of applying them to
16
aircraft emissions. The second subsection explains the impact of aircraft
emissions in Global Warming, focusing mainly on the impact of contrails.
2.2.1 Quantification of Global Warming impact
The quantification of the Global Warming effect of pollutants is necessary for the
assessment of Global Warming. Thus, GW metrics are used to identify, quantify
and compare contribution to Global Warming of different pollutants. According to
reference (Shine et al. 2005), the impact of emission can be regarded as the
following chain: Emissions Concentration changes Radiative forcing
Climate impacts Societal and ecosystem impact Economic damage. It has
been recognised that the further down the chain, the greater becomes the
relevance of the impacts. However, the complexity and uncertainty in
computational techniques increase. This chain can be applied to aviation
emissions as shown in Figure 2-6.
Figure 2-6: Aircraft emissions and climate change (Lee et al. 2009)
Nowadays, the objective is to find an appropriate metric reflecting the societal
and economic impact. However, given the current state of climate models, it is
hard to achieve the desired metric. In fact, there is an ongoing discussion about
17
which metric can best quantify GW impact. The most important metrics used
today are discussed in the following subsections.
2.2.1.1 Radiative forcing
Radiative forcing, RF, is a standard metric commonly used to compare the
contribution of variations in individual ambient constituents to the Earth energy
imbalance since pre-industrial times (CCC 2009). Some pollutants, like
Greenhouse gases, disturb the equilibrium state of the Earth radiation budget
absorbing additional heat energy, which will remain within Earth system. This
additionally absorbed heat energy is known as Radiative forcing.
As Radiative forcing increases, more heat is absorbed and consequently, the
Earth’s average surface temperature increases. The temperature will continue to
rise until the radiation input and output of the atmosphere are in equilibrium again.
To conclude, a positive radiative forcing will result in a temperature rise, while a
negative value will lead to a temperature drop (Noppel 2007).
The surface temperature rise is not only affected by the radiative forcing but also
by the climate sensitivity parameter, 𝜆. Then, the surface temperature rise,
𝛥𝑇𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑓, is defined as provided in equation (2-8) (Penner et al. 1999). RF is
expressed in [W m-2], the temperature rise in [K], and the climate feedback
parameter in [K W-1 m2].
𝛥𝑇𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑓 = 𝜆 𝑅𝐹 (2-8)
Radiative forcing of atmospheric constituents measures the current concentration
of past emissions. As a result, long-lived pollutants, such as CO2 and CH4, cause
a radiative forcing that will persist for several decades after emitted. In the case
of short-lived emissions, such as contrails, the induced radiative forcing will
diminish to zero only some hours after emission. Additionally, according to
reference (Shine and Forster 1999), radiative forcing of a particular pollutant is
dependent on its spatial distribution and interaction with radiation, whether solar
or terrestrial. The global radiative forcing in 2005 for the principal components is
shown in Figure 2-7. The geographic spatial scale of the RF from each pollutant
18
and the Level Of Scientific Understanding (LOSU) are included on the right of the
figure.
The main disadvantage of this metric is that it only indicates the current impact,
and hence, imbalance of past emissions. Therefore, this parameter does not
show how current emissions will affect future climate change. This is because,
as explained before, emissions with long residence times will keep their radiative
forcing effect for much longer than emissions with short residence times.
Although RF presents this disadvantage, it is a standard metric because it is easy
to use and understand.
Figure 2-7: Global radiative components in 2005 (Lee et al. 2009)
Focusing on aviation, an alternative metric based on RF is the radiative forcing
index, RFI, which compares aviation’s total radiative forcing with that of aviation
CO2 emissions (Gössling and Upham 2009). This metric presents the same
disadvantages as radiative forcing.
2.2.1.2 Global Warming Potential
The Global Warming Potential, GWP, is a metric that measures the contribution
of different pollutants to Global Warming. It can be defined as “the time-integrated
radiative forcing due to a pulse emission of a particular gas relative to a pulse
emission of a reference gas over a time horizon” (Shine et al. 2005). The
19
reference gas is commonly CO2. The usual time period chosen is 100 years, as
in Kyoto Protocol, but shorter and longer timescales can be employed.
The main disadvantage of this approach is that it only works correctly for long-
lived emissions, whose concentration does not depend on location or altitude as
they are well mixed on a global scale. For this reason, short-lived pollutants, such
as contrails and NOx, are not suitably measured with this metric as their
occurrence is limited to certain locations and altitudes. For this reason, GWP is
not a suitable approach for measuring the influence of aviation emissions in
Global Warming.
2.2.1.3 Global Temperature Potential
The Global Temperature Potential, GTP, is another metric analogous to the GWP
that calculates the average surface temperature response due to the release of
a particular gas relative to the release of a reference gas at some specific future
point in time. According to reference (Shine et al. 2005), there are two different
ways to calculate GTP, considering pulsed emissions (GTPP) or considering
sustained emissions (GTPS). Obviously, depending on the kind of emission
selected, the result will be different.
As climate impact can be forecasted, both metrics, GTPP and GTPS, are one
step further down in the chain given in Section 2.2.1 than radiative forcing and
GWP. However, a workshop of the IPCC (IPCC 2009) concluded that it would be
inappropriate to replace GWP by GTP at the current time as more research is
required on the performance of GTP.
2.2.2 Global Warming impact of aircraft emissions
This section focuses on the impact of aircraft emissions in Global Warming. The
chart in Figure 2-8 shows the radiative forcing of aviation emissions in 2005, and
their geographic spatial scale and LOSU. As can be observed, CO2, Aviation
Induced Cirrus (AIC) and O3 are the main contributors to Global Warming induced
by aircraft. In the case of AIC, a very low level of scientific understanding has
been achieved and consequently, there is a high uncertainty on its RF value. For
20
this reason, two total aviation RF are usually presented, including and excluding
aircraft induced cirrus.
Figure 2-8: Aviation Radiative Forcing Components in 2005 (Lee et al. 2009)
Regarding contrails, their warming impact is expected to be lower than that of the
main contributors described above, but it is still considerable. The LOSU of
contrails is low, as well as the LOSU of water vapour and aerosols. Moreover, a
cooling effect caused by aviation is expected due to the emission of sulphate
aerosols and the reduction in atmospheric methane.
Finally, if a more global impact overview is required, the effect of aviation
emissions on climate change is represented in Figure 2-6.
2.2.2.1 Global Warming impact of contrails
Contrails have a direct impact on climate as explained in the previous section.
However, although some research has been performed in this field, the impact of
contrails is still difficult to describe and measure accurately. This is because
properties of contrails vary widely depending on ambient conditions, contrails
coverage and their optical depth. Contrails that persist long enough spread
21
forming cirrus clouds. During this transition, the properties of contrails vary
progressively, making the quantification of contrails impact even more
challenging. Due to all these reasons, nowadays there are still considerable
uncertainties about the GW impact of contrails and aircraft induced cirrus.
Nonetheless, a radiative forcing analysis of contrails can be conducted
considering shortwave radiative forcing, 𝑅𝐹𝑆𝑊, and longwave radiative forcing,
𝑅𝐹𝐿𝑊. On the one hand, the shortwave radiative forcing refers to the solar energy
flux not allowed to enter the Earth’s atmosphere, what results in a negative RF,
and thus, a cooling effect. On the other hand, the longwave radiative forcing
corresponds to the heat flux from the ground prevented from leaving the Earth’s
atmosphere, leading to a positive RF, and consequently, a warming effect. The
net radiative forcing, 𝑅𝐹𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙, can be expressed as the sum of these two effects.
𝑅𝐹𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 = 𝑅𝐹𝐿𝑊 + 𝑅𝐹𝑆𝑊 (2-9)
The net radiative forcing achieves its maximum value at night because shortwave
RF is zero, resulting only in longwave RF, which has a warming effect. In
conclusion, the net effect of contrails radiative forcing is generally positive, and
according to reference (Meerkötter et al. 1999), a warming net effect is induced
by contrails.
Radiative forcing of contrails and cirrus clouds depends mainly on coverage and
optical depth. Focusing on contrail and cirrus clouds coverage, Table 2-1
provides coverage data over Europe, USA and east coast Southeast Asia. These
values were extracted from reference (Burkhardt and Kärcher 2011), and they
represent the maximum values of contrail cirrus coverage over some zones of
the analysed areas. The average contrail cirrus coverage on a global scale is also
included in the last column of Table 2-1.
Europe USA Southeast Asia Global
Contrails 2% 1% 0.2% 0.07%
Cirrus clouds 10% 6% 1% 0.61%
Table 2-1: Contrail-Cirrus coverage over different areas and globally
22
2.3 Contrail avoidance strategies
Since the 90s, several researches have been conducted with the challenge of
achieving a better understanding of the environmental impact of contrails and
how to reduce their formation. Although there has been much progress in this
field, much remains to be done.
In the present section, different contrail avoidance strategies are presented.
Currently, the most analysed strategy consists on planning flight routes or flight
altitudes in a way that contrail formation can be reduced. The second approach
presented consists on water condensation and collection from the core exhaust
for contrail prevention. Finally, other technologies used for contrail mitigation are
described.
2.3.1 Air traffic adjustment
Air traffic adjustment strategy consists on the avoidance of regions where the
formation of persistent contrails is enhanced. The aim of this strategy is to
mitigate the Global Warming impact of contrails by reducing the radiative forcing.
If the contrail is formed, its persistence depends on ambient conditions, which
differ depending on altitude and geographical location. A study conducted in
reference (Noppel 2007) shows how the probability of contrail formation changes
depending on height and location. From this study, it is concluded that in the mid-
latitudes (30ºN-60ºN), the probability of contrail formation is very high at altitudes
of the upper troposphere (around 10 km). For the purpose of avoiding these high
probability contrail formation regions, two kinds of air traffic adjustment strategies
are presented: temporal and spatial.
As explained previously in Section 2.2.2.1, the net radiative forcing of contrails
achieves its maximum value at night. Consequently, to avoid this effect, temporal
air traffic adjustments were developed. According to reference (Stuber et al.
2006), most of the radiative forcing caused by contrails during winter is a result
of flying at night. A solution to this problem was provided in reference (Myhre and
Stordal 2001), who suggested that if the flight density increases during sunrise
and sunset, a reduction of the contrails radiative forcing could be experienced.
23
However, this solution does not consider the fact that contrail induced cirrus
clouds formed during the evening can persist during night, causing a greater
radiative forcing impact (Mannstein and Schumann 2005). From an economical
point of view, the limitation of air traffic to morning and evening is impractical.
Additionally, the fact of restricting the time of flights can lead to air traffic
congestion.
The alternative option to temporal air traffic adjustments is the application of
spatial adjustments. The basis of this method is that aircraft avoid atmospheric
regions where the formation of persistent contrails is promoted. These regions
can be avoided by changing the flight path of the aircraft horizontally or changing
the cruise altitude. On the one hand, the horizontal deviation would imply an
increase in fuel consumption as the length of the flight increases. On the other
hand, the variation in altitude would also mean an increase in fuel consumed as
the aircraft is not flying at the optimised cruise altitude.
According to reference (Noppel 2007), three different approaches were identified
for the mitigation of contrail formation by adjusting air traffic spatially. The first
method consists of a global variation of the cruise altitude. If the cruise altitude is
displaced downwards on a global scale, a decrease in contrail coverage is
achieved, and hence, in the contrails radiative forcing. An associated fuel burn
penalty is expected (Fichter et al. 2005). The minimum altitude at which contrails
formation occurs depends on ambient conditions, in particular, on relative
humidity. The minimum altitude varies between 8.8 km and 10.4 km depending
on whether RH is supersaturated (100%) or dry (0%) respectively (Filippone
2010).
The second approach is based on the restriction of cruise altitudes depending on
the current atmospheric conditions for some areas. The idea of this method is to
reallocate cruise altitudes in 6-hour intervals depending on ambient conditions,
what results in a contrail coverage decrease of 65-95%. Consequently, the
decline in contrail formation results in a fuel consumption penalty of 2.6-7.0%
(Williams and Noland 2005).
24
The last approach consists on a variation of the aircraft cruise altitude depending
on ambient conditions. Weather forecast data or in-flight measurements can be
used to produce an optimised flight path that mitigates contrail formation.
Reference (Noppel 2007) suggests that this approach reaches 78% decrease in
contrail formation with a 0.8% fuel burn penalty associated, which is lower than
for the first and second methods.
Apart from the associated fuel burn penalty, which is a distinct disadvantage of
air traffic spatial adjustments, the complexity of the air traffic management and
safety would be very high.
2.3.2 Clean exhaust engine concept
The clean exhaust engine concept, CEEC, is a novel engine concept that was
first introduced by Dr F. Noppel. The potential of this engine is that it offers the
possibility to reduce all aircraft emissions simultaneously. Additionally, this
engine has a significant increase thermal efficiency as stated in reference
(Noppel et al. 2009).
This novel engine concept could operate with hydrogen or any hydrocarbon
based fuel. For the present analysis, only kerosene is considered. Accordingly,
the combustion process of this fuel is analysed. After this, a water collection,
storage and handling analysis is presented to understand more in detail the
behaviour of this concept.
2.3.2.1 Kerosene combustion process
Before analysing the combustion process of kerosene, a brief introduction of
different types of kerosene-based jet fuels is included. Reference (Chevron 2007)
states that three types of kerosene are currently used by commercial aircraft
industry: Jet A, Jet A-1 and Jet B.
The most used kerosene-type fuels in the world are Jet A and Jet A-1. Jet A is
used in the USA while Jet A-1 is used in most of the rest of the world. The main
difference between these two fuels is that Jet A-1 has a lower freezing point than
Jet A, -47ºC and -40ºC, respectively. For this reason, Jet A-1 is more suitable for
long international flights, particularly on polar routes in winter. However, the
25
reasons why USA chooses Jet A are fuel price and availability. Wide-cut fuel,
also known as Jet B, is used only in some parts of Canada and Alaska due to its
suitability for cold climates (Chevron 2007).
The most common aviation turbine fuel (avtur) is consequently Jet A-1. The
average formula of avtur is not accurately defined as its composition can change
depending on the distillation process of the jet fuel. Reference (Goodger 2014)
suggested that the average formula of avtur is C12.5 H24.4, which has a similar C-
H ratio to the average formula C11 H21 provided in reference (Lefebvre and Ballal
2010). Therefore, the average formula of avtur suggested by Goodger is selected.
The combustion process of the kerosene with this composition is presented in
equation (2-10).
𝐶12.5𝐻24.4 + 18.6 (𝑂2 + 3.76 𝑁2) → 12.2 𝐻20 + 12.5 𝐶𝑂2 + 69.936 𝑁2 (2-10)
This equation has been defined considering stoichiometric fuel-air mixture. The
sulphur content in the fuel is not taken into account for the combustion process.
Additionally, NOx, CO and aerosol emissions are not considered as combustion
products as the combustion is assumed to be complete. In Figure 2-6 the
complete combustion products and actual combustion products are provided.
Using the stoichiometric equation (2-10), the emission indexes for water and
carbon dioxide can be calculated. The emission index of a gas, EI, is defined as
the mass produced of a selected gas per kg of fuel burnt. It is a mass ratio
between the selected gas and the fuel. According to equation (2-10), the emission
index of water vapour, EIw, is 1.2592 kg water/kg fuel, and the emission index of
carbon dioxide, EICO2 is 3.1537 kg CO2/kg fuel. The values obtained for both
emission indexes have been verified and compared with other documents. One
of these documents is provided in reference (Schwartz Dallara, Kroo, and Waitz
2011), and the specified emission index values are 1.26 and 3.16 for water
vapour and carbon dioxide, respectively.
In conclusion, the emission index is a useful tool to calculate an accurate value
of aircraft emissions if fuel burnt is known.
26
2.3.2.2 Water collection, storage and handling
The clean exhaust engine concept consists of an intercooled recuperated
configuration engine in which a dehumidifier is introduced to condense water
vapour at the core exhaust of the engine. For more information about engine
performance of CEEC, see references (Noppel 2007) and (Noppel et al. 2009).
To condense water vapour inside the engine, the temperature of the water has to
be lower than the critical temperature, 647 K, according to water phase diagram.
Consequently, a temperature reduction of the mass flow is considered in CEEC
after the low-pressure turbine using a heat exchanger, the recuperator. This
temperature reduction helps the dehumidifier condense water during different
flight phases.
Reference (Qureshi 2016) has developed a contrail-free engine through the
design of a turbomachinery that condenses the water vapour content at the core
exhaust within the engine. This device separates and collects the water before
releasing the remaining exhaust gases into the atmosphere through the core
exhaust nozzle. Once water is condensed, it can be stored on the aircraft or
released into the atmosphere (Noppel et al. 2009).
Focusing on the water storage on the aircraft, from 1 kg of fuel, 1.26 kg of water
are produced according to the emission index provided in the previous section.
This result implies that the aircraft weight will increase when water condensation
occurs if all the water is collected and then stored. A fuel consumption penalty is
expected due to this increase in weight.
The volume of the water produced compared to the volume of fuel burnt can be
calculated with the water and avtur emission indexes and densities. Assuming
standard conditions, the water density is 1 kg/dm3 and the avtur density is
0.8kg/dm3. Then, the volume ratio between water produced and fuel consumed
can be calculated, and it is 1.00736. This result implies that the volume of water
produced is similar to the volume of fuel burnt. Accordingly, fuel tanks could be
used to store water using a membrane that separates both liquids.
27
The possibility of releasing liquid water into the atmosphere was also considered
in CEEC. Liquid water can be discharged into the atmosphere during its collection
with a different size or different state, reducing its Global Warming impact. The
main disadvantage of this approach is that a better understanding of contrails and
cirrus clouds is required. Another possibility consists on releasing liquid water at
a lower altitude after having carried it during cruise phase for a period of time. An
option to release liquid water is during the descent after the whole cruise flight
phase. Releasing water at a lower altitude would prevent the formation of
contrails and hence, the contrails radiative forcing would fade. The main
disadvantage of carrying the water during cruise phase and then releasing at a
lower altitude is that a fuel consumption penalty is associated.
In addition to the release of liquid water into the atmosphere, different aircraft or
engine uses can be given to the condensed water. Collected water can be
injected into the combustion chamber reducing the NOx formation. An 80%
reduction in NOx can be achieved, as stated in reference (Lefebvre and Ballal
2010). Moreover, part of the condensed water can be used for aircraft systems.
2.3.3 Other technologies
Apart from the two contrail avoidance strategies described, several techniques
have been designed with the same purpose over the last years. One of this
techniques was based on chemical devices (Singh 1988). The objective of these
chemical devices was to use additions to the aircraft plume to alleviate the
saturation pressure of water required for condensation. Detergents or surfactants
are injected into the plume to suppress the contrail formation. The consequences
of carrying these detergents during the flight mission are weight and fuel
consumption penalties.
Other process, known as sonication, prevents contrail formation with an
ultrasound device (Noppel, Singh, and Taylor 2012). The process consists on the
application of ultrasound on water droplets emissions reducing their pressure,
what results in droplets vaporisation. This method can be an attractive contrail
avoidance technique, but it has a weight and fuel consumption penalty.
29
3 AIRCRAFT AND ENGINE MODELS
The main objective of the current project was to study the effect of storing the
water condensed from engine core exhaust for contrail prevention during cruise.
In this chapter, the selection and creation of aircraft and engine baseline models
used to analyse the aircraft performance are presented.
Regarding the selection of the aircraft and engine models, a large wide-body four-
engine aircraft was chosen because the amount of stored water would be high
enough to obtain unambiguous results. Between large wide-body four-engine
aircraft a combination of an airframe inspired the Airbus A380 and a three-spool
high bypass turbofan engine inspired by the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 was selected.
It was the chosen option because it had already been employed in previous
investigations of this contrail avoidance technique (Qureshi 2016).
A conventional turbofan engine was selected even though the concept in
reference (Noppel 2007) suggested that an intercooled recuperated engine had
to be used to condense the water at the engine core exhaust. However, the
engine performance analysis conducted in reference (Qureshi 2016) suggests
that the performance of the turbofan and the intercooled recuperated engines are
similar. Accordingly, for simplicity, a three-spool high bypass turbofan inspired by
the Roll-Royce Trent 900 was considered instead of an intercooled recuperated
configuration engine.
For the creation of the aircraft baseline, firstly, an optimised model of the engine
was designed with the software Turbomatch, and later, the aircraft model was
created with the software Hermes, in which Turbomatch generates an engine
input. A brief explanation of each software is provided in sections in which they
are used.
Each model is presented in a different section. A brief introduction of the model,
the assumptions considered, the model development, and finally, the model
validation are included in both sections.
30
3.1 Three-spool high bypass turbofan engine
The three-spool high bypass turbofan engine was inspired by the Rolls-Royce
(RR) Trent 900 because it is one of the possible options for the Airbus A380. It
has been very successful as over half of operators selected this engine for the
A380 instead of the other option, the Engine Alliance GP7000. According to
ICAO, the RR Trent 900 engine also has lower NOx emissions than the competitor
(Rolls-Royce 2016).
Figure 3-1: Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines series cutaway (McAlpine 2016)
3.1.1 Engine specifications
RR Trent 900 has been defined so far as an engine, but it corresponds to an
engine series. A cutaway of Trent 900 engines series is illustrated in Figure 3-1.
According to reference (EASA 2013), seven different engines are classified as
Trent 900. Thus, one of these engines had to be selected to design it according
to the available data of the model. The chosen engine was RR Trent 970-84
because more data of this engine and of the corresponding aircraft model were
available. However, the creation of a model completely identical to the original
was not possible as engine manufacturers do not provide all the engine
parameters data. As a result, the model was designed as similar as possible to
the original engine with the available data, which are gathered in Table 3-1 with
their corresponding source.
31
Cruise conditions (ISA)
Altitude 10,670 m (Daly 2011)
Mach number 0.85 (Daly 2011)
Thrust 65.4 kN (Daly 2011)
SFC 14.665 mg/(N s) (Daly 2011)
Take off (T/O) conditions (S/L)
Mass flow 1,204-1,245 kg/s (Daly 2011)
Bypass ratio (BPR) 8.5-8.7 (Daly 2011)
Pressure ratio 38.5 (Daly 2011)
Maximum COT 1,820 K (EASA 2013)
Thrust 334.29 kN (EASA 2013)
Fuel flow 2.6 kg/s (ICAO 2013a)
Table 3-1: Trent 970-84 data for cruise and T/O conditions
Additionally, reference (EASA 2013) provided information about the compressor
and turbine stages, and about bleed air extraction of the Trent 900 engines. The
number of stages is presented in Table 3-2. Regarding the bleed air extraction,
at normal operating conditions, there are 4 air bleeds apart from the combustor
cooling bleed. The first bleed is located at the fan outlet to cool the air of the cabin
system pre-cooler. The second bleed is taken off the HP turbine for the nacelle
thermal anti-icing flow demand. Finally, air is bled from IP or HP compressor,
depending on the port pressure in the compressors. No information about
combustion chamber cooling bleed is given. For more details about Trent 900
series engines bleeds, see reference (EASA 2013).
Compressor Turbine
Low pressure (LP) Single stage 5 stages
Intermediate pressure (IP)
8 stages Single stage
High pressure (HP) 6 stages Single stage
Table 3-2: Compressor and turbine stages of the Trent 900 series engines (EASA
2013)
32
3.1.2 Assumptions
Some assumptions were considered to facilitate the creation and design process
of the engine. These assumptions are presented below.
ISA conditions were considered during the whole flight mission.
Pressure recovery was 99% for all the different flight phases.
Compressors and turbines efficiencies were defined according to the
current technology level.
Pressure ratios of the different compressors were determined considering
the data available.
Stators angle was assumed to remain constant during the whole flight
mission.
Degradation of the components was neglected.
Pressure losses in all ducts were 1%, except in the case of the combustor,
in which a 6% pressure loss was used.
Combustion efficiency was 99.8% throughout the whole mission.
Air bled for combustion chamber cooling was assumed to be 19%.
Only 2 of the 4 compressor bleeds of the original engine were taken into
consideration. Nacelle thermal anti-ice bleed and IP compressor customer
bleed were neglected for simplicity of the engine.
Air bleeds located into a compressor were assumed to be situated before
it.
3.1.3 Engine model design
The design of the engine model was carried out using the latest version of the
software Turbomatch. This software has been developed by Cranfield University
to simulate the performance of gas turbines in a non-linear steady state. In this
software, the different components or parts of the engine are defined as bricks,
and their corresponding parameters are known as brick data. In order to link the
bricks, the utilisation of station vectors is required. Each station vector comprises
the different properties of the gas at that station. For further details, refer to
(Nikolaidis 2015).
33
Bearing in mind the data and assumptions stated before, the design of a three-
spool high bypass turbofan engine inspired by the Trent 970-84 engine was
conducted using the software Turbomatch. The first step was the creation of a
schematic representation of the three-spool high bypass engine, which is
illustrated in Figure 3-2. In this illustration, all the selected engine components
and station numbers for the model are represented. Station numbering should
have been defined according to SAE nomenclature (SAE 2004). However, as can
be observed, this nomenclature was not followed in Figure 3-2 because it was
assigned in accordance with the numbering used in Turbomatch input file, for
easier understanding.
Figure 3-2: Scheme of the three-spool high bypass turbofan engine
The scheme represented in Figure 3-2 served as a basis to create the
Turbomatch input code, which is given in Appendix A.1. The selected
components and station numbers in this input code were the same as in Figure
3-2. In the Turbomatch input file cruise and take-off conditions are used to create
an engine model as similar as possible to the RR Trent 970-84. The design point
(DP) of the engine corresponds to cruise and the take-off condition was used to
create an off design point (OD).
An optimisation of the values of turbomachinery DP efficiencies, compressors DP
pressure ratios (PR), bypass ratio (BPR), DP and OD combustor outlet
temperature (COT), DP mass flow and DP bleeds was carried out in Matlab to
obtain thrust and SFC values at cruise and take-off conditions as close as
possible to the data specified in Table 3-1. In addition to thrust and SFC, OD
34
mass flow and OD overall PR were outputs of the optimisation. The results of the
optimisation are provided in Table 3-3.
Parameter Optimised value
Fan DP efficiency 0.90
IP compressor DP efficiency 0.90
HP compressor DP efficiency 0.90
LP turbine DP efficiency 0.93
IP turbine DP efficiency 0.91
HP turbine DP efficiency 0.92
Fan DP PR 1.66
IP DP PR 4.00
HP DP PR 6.44
DP Bypass ratio 8.68
DP COT 1,603 K
OD COT 1,743 K
DP mass flow 518.76 kg/s
Bleed after fan 0.003
Bleed after IP compressor 0.02
Combustor cooling bleed 0.19
Table 3-3: Optimised values for Turbomatch input file
The brick data of the Turbomatch input file were defined in accordance with the
values given in Table 3-3. The optimisation enabled the achievement of an engine
model that works in a similar way to the RR Trent 970-84.
3.1.4 Engine model validation
In this section, the validation of the engine model inspired by the Trent RR 970-
84 is presented. The validation was conducted comparing the results obtained in
Turbomatch with the available data of the engine provided in Section 3.1.1. The
engine model was designed with the primary goal of getting the Turbomatch
results of the considered parameters as similar as possible to the datum. The
35
comparison between the values obtained from the Turbomatch model and the
datum values/intervals is provided in Table 3-4.
Parameter Value obtained
from Turbomatch model
Datum value/interval Deviation
DP Thrust 65,664 N 65,400 N 0.40%
DP SFC 15.53 mg/(N s) 14.67 mg/(N s) 5.86%
T/O Thrust 337,518 N 334,290 N 0.97%
T/O fuel flow 2.6 kg/s 2.6 kg/s 0.00%
T/O mass flow 1,203 kg/s 1,204-1,245 kg/s 0.08%
T/O BPR 8.71 8.5-8.7 0.12%
T/O overall PR 38.6 38.5 0.26%
Table 3-4: Validation of engine model results
As can be observed from this table, all the outcome parameters fitted
appropriately to the datum value or interval with a deviation of less than 1%,
except the cruise (design point) SFC. This deviation was quite high, almost 6%,
what would result in a fuel over-consumption during cruise, which is the longest
flight phase. This deviation might have been caused by the fact that several
assumptions have been stated for this engine, so the performance of the engine
model changed slightly from the original engine. Additionally, fuel consumption
tests are commonly carried out in a low consumption environment and with a low
consumption engine setting. Despite this slight deviation on DP SFC, as the other
values adjusted appropriately to datum, the model was considered accurate and
valid for the upcoming analyses.
Finally, this engine model inspired by the RR Trent 970-84 was included in the
Turbomatch engine library of Cranfield University.
3.2 Large wide-body aircraft
The large wide-body aircraft was inspired by the Airbus A380 as stated in the
introduction of this chapter. The Airbus A380 aircraft is the largest commercial
aircraft flying nowadays, with a capacity from 544 to 853 passengers, depending
36
on the class configuration. The double-deck configuration offers 50% more floor
surface than the next largest aircraft. The long ranges of more than 15,200 km
that this aircraft can achieved also alleviate traffic congestion (Airbus 2016).
Figure 3-3: Airbus A380 (Airbus 2016)
3.2.1 Aircraft specifications
The Airbus aircraft model that corresponds to the engine selected in the previous
section is the Airbus A380-841, according to reference (Jane’s 2015). This aircraft
configuration belongs to A380-800 series and the available weight data about it
are gathered in Table 3-5, with their corresponding source. External dimensions
data were also provided in reference (Jane’s 2015).
Parameter Value Source
Aircraft empty weight 270,010 kg (Jane’s 2015)
Maximum T/O weight 560,000 kg (Jane’s 2015)
Maximum landing weight 389,995 kg (Jane’s 2015)
Maximum payload weight 83,700 kg (Airbus 2014)
Maximum fuel weight 259,465 kg (Jane’s 2015)
Table 3-5: Weight specification data of Airbus A380
Regarding the mission specification data, the A380 cruising altitude is 10,670 m
according to reference (Jane’s 2015). This value is in line with the Trent 970-84
37
cruise altitude specified in Table 3-1. Reference (Jane’s 2015) states that the
economy Mach number of the A380 is 0.82 while the Mach number specified in
engine data is 0.85 (Daly 2011). As the economy Mach number suggested for
the aircraft, 0.82, corresponds to the A380 model with Engine Alliance GP 7000
installed, a Mach number of 0.85 was selected in accordance with the engine
data.
Finally, the A380 payload-range diagram is represented in Figure 3-4.
Assumptions are included at the bottom left of the chart. As can be observed, the
maximum payload coincides with the value stated in Table 3-5. The maximum
achievable range by the A380 is around 17,600 km with no payload.
Figure 3-4: A380 Payload-Range diagram (Airbus 2014)
3.2.2 Assumptions and considerations
Some assumptions and considerations to facilitate the creation and design
process of the aircraft are presented below.
Constant altitude and Mach number during the cruise phase.
No diversion was considered during the flight mission.
No ambient temperature deviation from ISA and zero wind was assumed.
Relative contingency fuel to remain after landing was 5%.
Holding altitude was 457 m and hold time was 30 min.
38
The first three assumptions were stated for a simplification of the aircraft design.
The other two assumptions were held in accordance with conventional reserves
used for fuel planning (Jenkinson, Simpkin, and Rhodes 1999). The contingency
fuel is carried in case of deviations from the expected fuel consumption data, from
meteorological conditions or from planned routes/altitudes occur (Laskaridis,
Pilidis, and Kotsiopoulos 2005).
3.2.3 Aircraft model design
The design of the aircraft model was conducted using the software Hermes. This
software has been developed by Cranfield University, and it simulates the
performance of aircraft, including the engine performance using the software
Turbomatch. The creation of the aircraft model using Hermes is based on a
modular layout, so that the modules can be easily altered and integrated for
different analysis. The six different modules are: shape and geometry data,
mission profile, atmospheric data, engine data, aerodynamic data, and aircraft
performance (Laskaridis et al. 2005).
Hermes input files consist of the geometry, mission, and engine specification data
(GeomMissionEngineSpec input) and the engine performance data
(EngPerfData input). The GeomMissionEngineSpec input comprises four sets of
data:
1. Shape and geometry data
2. Mission/weight specification data
3. Mission profile specification data
4. Engine specification data
The GeomMissionEngineSpec file of this project was designed using the same
input created in reference (Qureshi 2016) as a baseline. Qureshi’s input was
created for an aircraft model inspired by the A380-800. Therefore, some
modifications are carried out in Qureshi’s file to adapt the input for the aircraft
model inspired by the A380-841. The created GeomMissionEngineSpec Hermes
input is provided in Appendix B.1. The shape and geometry data are the same
39
except for the engine length and diameter. The new engine dimensions data are
taken from reference (EASA 2013).
The mission/weight specification data were modified according to the
assumptions stated in the previous subsection and the weight data specified in
Table 3-5. The engine weight is also adjusted in accordance with reference
(EASA 2013). Finally, either the range or the fuel weight must be defined as an
input of this data set. For the present study, the range was selected as input. The
value of the input range corresponds to the DP range, which is the maximum
range that can be reached with the maximum payload.
The mission profile specification data set of the present input file was the same
as in Qureshi’s file. In this data set the duration of landing and taxi phase were in
line with allowances stated by reference (Jenkinson et al. 1999). Landing phase
typical duration is 6 min both for domestic and for international flights. However,
characteristic duration of the taxi phase is 9 min for domestic flights and 12
minutes for international flights. Consequently, as long and short haul flights were
considered during the analysis an intermediate value of 10 min was selected.
Lastly, the engine specification data had to be defined to complete the
GeomMissionEngineSpec input file. In this data set, information from the
Turbomatch input code, described previously in Section 3.1, is required. One of
these inputs, the COT interval for each flight phase, must be selected carefully
because it is the major source of convergence issues in Hermes. If the intervals
are selected arbitrarily without taking into account the operation of the engine
model throughout the whole flight path, the interval could be too low to the aircraft
to climb or too high so that the aircraft cannot descend.
This last data set of the GeomMissionEngineSpec input file is not read by
Hermes, and it is only used, accompanied with the DP Trent 970-84 engine code,
for the creation of the other Hermes input file, EngPerfData, using Turbomatch.
The version of the Turbomatch software linked with Hermes is not the latest
version utilised for the engine creation. Therefore, the EngPerfData input was
generated manually using the most recent version of Turbomatch to ensure
consistency of the results. The Hermes output files comprise the aircraft
40
performance and the engine performance data. For further information about
Hermes refer to the user manual (Cranfield University 2009).
3.2.4 Aircraft model validation
In this section, the validation of the aircraft model inspired by the Airbus A380-
841 was conducted comparing between the payload-range diagram of the aircraft
model obtained from Hermes and the A380 payload-range diagram adopted from
Airbus datasheet (Airbus 2014).
The payload-range diagram of the model was represented changing the payload-
range setting of the aircraft design in Hermes. This diagram takes into account
the maximum T/O weight and the maximum fuel weight.
Both payload-range diagrams were calculated for the same flight characteristics,
and they are represented in Figure 3-5.
Figure 3-5: Payload-range diagram of Hermes aircraft model and A380
In this chart, the black line illustrates the aircraft model designed with Hermes
and the red line shows the A380 diagram. As can be observed, the design point
of the Hermes diagram is very similar to the DP of the original A380 curve (point
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
70000
80000
90000
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000 20000
Pay
load
(kg
)
Range (km)
HERMES aircraft model A380 data
41
1). After the DP, the curve slope changes because the maximum T/O weight
cannot be exceeded. Then, this slope varies again after point 2 due to another
limitation, the maximum fuel weight. Finally, the point 3 represents the maximum
range point, in which the payload carried is null.
The range deviation of the Hermes aircraft model with regard to the A380 at the
marked points of the chart is presented in Table 3-6. The range deviations of the
three points were below 3%. The payload-range deviation could be caused by
the higher SFC at cruise of the created engine model and the differences in the
aircraft performance. Taking into account the similar pattern of both diagrams and
low deviation of the points, the aircraft model was accepted.
Point number Range deviation
Point 1 1.27%
Point 2 1.22%
Point 3 2.74%
Table 3-6: Range and payload deviations of the Hermes model
Finally, due to the satisfactory results of the aircraft baseline model inspired by
the A380-Trent 900 configuration, the model was considered valid for the current
work.
43
4 AIRCRAFT PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT WITH
WATER STORAGE
In this chapter the methodology to study the aircraft performance with water
storage for contrail prevention during cruise is described. It also includes the
steps to conduct a global warming analysis can be with the results of the aircraft
performance.
4.1 Aircraft performance analysis
Once the model inspired by A380-Trent 900 was built with the software Hermes,
the next step of the present study was the implementation of the contrail
avoidance strategy suggested in reference (Noppel 2007) to the aircraft baseline
model. The contrail avoidance technique consists in the water condensation at
the engine core exhaust. The condensed water can be stored on the aircraft or it
can be released into the atmosphere. The current study focuses only on water
storage during cruise, and water release was assumed to happen after this flight
phase. For this reason, the storing water aircraft was simulated only during cruise.
To conduct this analysis, the aircraft baseline model and the aircraft model
carrying water during cruise were compared. The model of the water-carrying
aircraft during cruise was made with the software Matlab. In this case, Hermes
was not used because it cannot change the aircraft weight due to the collection
and storage of water during the cruise phase. In order to use the same software
for the final comparison analysis between the baseline model and the water-
carrying aircraft, the baseline model was also built with Matlab, in accordance
with the Hermes results. A validation process of the baseline model in Matlab was
conducted to verify that the Matlab aircraft performance was similar to the
Hermes aircraft performance.
Throughout this section, the below-mentioned points are followed.
Assumptions of water storage aircraft
Aircraft baseline model algorithm
Water storage model algorithm
44
Water storage model implementation in Matlab
Validation of the Matlab model
4.1.1 Assumptions and considerations
Some assumptions and considerations were stated to facilitate the creation of the
water storage aircraft model. These assumptions are presented below.
Water was only stored during the cruise phase, and it was released once
this phase is completed. It was assumed that contrails are only formed
during cruise.
According to the water emission index, 1.2592 kg of water were produced
per 1 kg of fuel burn.
All the water produced was stored on the aircraft.
Constant altitude and Mach number during the cruise phase.
No ambient temperature deviation from ISA and zero wind.
These assumptions were implemented in the water storage analysis. Only the
last two assumptions needed to be applied to the aircraft baseline model.
4.1.2 Aircraft baseline model algorithm
In this section, the algorithm to create the Matlab baseline model is presented.
This algorithm is very similar to the one that was used in the water storage case,
and only minor modifications were applied in the water storage model.
First of all, the Matlab model was developed during cruise condition because
contrails were assumed to form only at that phase. The Matlab algorithm of the
aircraft baseline model was created in accordance with Hermes algorithm.
Consequently, some results of the Hermes simulation were required by the
Matlab model for a similar aircraft performance. In Hermes, the whole cruise
phase is divided into small segments and the same operations are repeated in
each segment to obtain the aircraft and engine performances during cruise. The
Matlab model followed the same method, splitting the cruise phase in the same
number of segments as Hermes. The operations in each segment were defined
45
emulating the Hermes simulation. The Matlab algorithm of each cruise segment
is represented in Figure 4-1.
Figure 4-1: Scheme of the cruise segment algorithm
This scheme illustrates the three main calculations of the Matlab aircraft
performance simulation. The cruise initial weight is required to start the simulation
of the algorithm. Then, the algorithm is repeated for all the cruise segments. The
final weight of one cruise segment is used as the initial weight of the following
segment. The three primary calculations of the algorithm are detailed and
explained thoroughly in the following subsections.
4.1.2.1 Engine drag calculation
The objective of this calculation was to obtain the engine drag of the
corresponding segment initial weight. The required operations are summarised
in Figure 4-2 and detailed in this section.
Figure 4-2: Algorithm to calculate engine drag
First of all, the ambient conditions must be defined to calculate the density of air
at the cruise altitude, which was set as 10,670 m. The ambient pressure and
temperature are defined in equations (4-1) and (4-2). These equations were
extracted from reference (Cavcar 2014), and they enable the ambient conditions
calculation for a given altitude ℎ. Sea level (S/L) pressure and temperature must
be known. Then, air density can be estimated with the ambient pressure and
46
temperature, as provided in equation (4-3). SI units must be used in these
formulae.
𝑇𝑎𝑚𝑏(ℎ) = 𝑇𝑆/𝐿 − 6.5 ℎ
1000 (4-1)
𝑃𝑎𝑚𝑏(ℎ) = 𝑃𝑆/𝐿 (1 − 0.0065 ℎ
𝑇𝑆/𝐿)
5.2561
(4-2)
𝜌𝑎𝑚𝑏(ℎ) =𝑃𝑎𝑚𝑏(ℎ)
𝑅 𝑇𝑎𝑚𝑏(ℎ) (4-3)
Furthermore, True Airspeed (TAS) must be calculated for the Mach number 𝑀
selected for the cruise mission, which was 0.85. TAS calculation is provided in
equation (4-4) and it was extracted from reference (Lawson 2016). In this
equation, the ratio of specific heat 𝛾, Mach number 𝑀, the ideal gas constant 𝑅
and the ambient temperature at cruise altitude 𝑇𝑎𝑚𝑏(ℎ) are used for TAS
calculation. A constant value of 1.4 was assumed for the ratio of specific heat. SI
units must be used in this formula.
𝑇𝐴𝑆 = 𝑀 √𝛾 𝑅 𝑇𝑎𝑚𝑏(ℎ) (4-4)
The ambient cruise temperature, pressure, density and the TAS are required
parameters during the whole segment algorithm. Once these values are
determined, the lift coefficient and drag coefficient of the aircraft can be estimated
as shown in equations (4-5) and (4-6). These formulae are provided in reference
(Eurocontrol 2011).
Looking at the lift coefficient formula, initial weight 𝑊𝑖, gravity acceleration 𝑔, air
density 𝜌 at cruise altitude, True Airspeed 𝑇𝐴𝑆 and wing reference area 𝑆 are
necessary for the lift coefficient 𝐶𝐿 calculation. The wing reference area of the
A380 aircraft is 845 m2 (Jane’s 2015). The drag coefficient of the aircraft model
inspired by the A380 was determined with the lift coefficient. The profile drag
coefficient 𝐶𝐷0 and the lift dependent coefficient 𝐶𝐷𝑙 are constants and their value
can be obtained from documents like reference (BADA 2011). In this document,
the values of 𝐶𝐷0 and 𝐶𝐷𝑙 for the different flight phases are given. However,
47
Hermes calculates these values in a different way and it does not give them as
results. Consequently, they were determined using the lift and drag coefficients
of the aircraft performance Hermes output file. The resultant values of 𝐶𝐷0 and
𝐶𝐷𝑙 were 0.1601 and 0.04479, respectively. Despite having data on the public
domain, the calculated values were used to ensure that the Matlab model was
similar to the Hermes model.
𝐶𝐿 = 2 𝑊𝑖 𝑔
𝜌 𝑇𝐴𝑆2 𝑆 (4-5)
𝐶𝐷 = 𝐶𝐷0 + 𝐶𝐷𝑙 (𝐶𝐿)2 (4-6)
Finally, the aircraft and engine drag are calculated with the drag coefficient as
shown in equations (4-7) and (4-8). The aircraft drag calculation formula was
extracted from reference (Eurocontrol 2011). In this formula drag coefficient 𝐶𝐷
and other parameters detailed before were used. Once the aircraft drag is
determined, the engine drag is calculated just dividing the aircraft drag by the
number of engines, which was 4 in this case.
𝐷𝐴/𝐶 = 𝐶𝐷 𝜌 (𝑇𝐴𝑆)2 𝑆
2 (4-7)
𝐷𝑒𝑛𝑔 =𝐷𝐴/𝐶
4 (4-8)
4.1.2.2 Fuel consumption calculation
This section presents the calculation procedure of the fuel consumption of the
aircraft using the engine drag calculated as explained in the previous section. The
operations are summarised in Figure 4-3 and detailed in this section.
Figure 4-3: Algorithm to calculate engine fuel consumption
The engine net thrust is equal to the engine drag during cruise phase if straight
and level flight path is assumed. Then, the fuel consumption of the engine is given
48
by Turbomatch defining the net thrust, cruise altitude, and Mach number as
inputs. The result of this calculation is different for each cruise segment because
drag changes with the segment initial weight.
4.1.2.3 Segment final weight calculation
The fuel consumption estimated by Turbomatch is required to determine the
segment final weight of the aircraft. The operations to achieve this objective are
summarised in Figure 4-4 and detailed in the present section.
Figure 4-4: Algorithm to calculate segment final weight
First of all, the distance of each segment is calculated by dividing the cruise total
range by the number of segments. Then, the Breguet Range equation is used to
calculate the segment final weight of the aircraft with the segment distance, as
shown in equation (4-9). This mathematical statement was provided in reference
(Waitz 2008).
𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑠𝑒𝑔 =𝑇𝐴𝑆 (𝐿
𝐷⁄ )
𝑔 𝑆𝐹𝐶 𝑙𝑛 (
𝑊𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙
𝑊𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙) (4-9)
In the Breguet Range equation the segment distance 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑠𝑒𝑔, the True
Airspeed 𝑇𝐴𝑆, the lift to drag ratio 𝐿/𝐷, the gravity acceleration 𝑔, the 𝑆𝐹𝐶 and
the segment initial weight 𝑊𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 are known parameters, so the segment final
weight 𝑊𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 can be determined. The lift coefficient to drag coefficient ratio 𝐶𝐿/𝐶𝐷
is used instead of the lift to drag ratio 𝐿/𝐷. This operation is consistent because
𝐶𝐿/𝐶𝐷 is a simplification of 𝐿/𝐷.
4.1.3 Water storage model algorithm
The algorithm used in Matlab for the water storage model is very similar to the
baseline model as only one operation must be added. The first two main
calculations, engine drag, and fuel consumption are the same. But the segment
final weight calculation changes because the water weight must be introduced in
49
this operation. Consequently, the algorithm of the segment final weight is
modified as shown in Figure 4-5.
Figure 4-5: Algorithm to calculate segment final weight in water storage model
The Breguet range equation gives the final weight of a segment. The fuel burn
weight can be calculated as the difference between the segment initial weight
and the final weight given by the Breguet range equation for the same segment.
Then, the weight of the water produced from the combustion during the segment
is calculated multiplying the fuel burn weight and the emission index, as shown
in equation (4-10). The difference between the water and fuel burn weight is
added to the segment initial weight to determine the final weight of the segment.
This operation is presented in equation (4-11).
𝑊𝑤 = 𝐸𝐼𝑤 𝑊𝑓𝑢𝑒𝑙 (4-10)
𝑊𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 = 𝑊𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 + (𝑊𝑤 − 𝑊𝑓𝑢𝑒𝑙) (4-11)
Using this methodology, two aircraft performance analyses can be conducted:
A range comparison between the baseline and the water storage model
using the same amount of fuel to observe the range reduction because of
carrying the water
A fuel burn penalty comparison between the baseline and the water
storage model flying the same distance
4.1.3.1 Range reduction analysis
In the range reduction analysis, the Matlab baseline model is simulated using the
payload-range diagram of the baseline aircraft as a reference.
The fuel burnt by the baseline model during the cruise phase is set as a limitation
in the water storage simulation, as the engine cannot burn more fuel than what is
carrying. Consequently, a reduction in the cruise range is experienced by the
water storage aircraft due to the fuel overconsumption. The fuel restriction is not
50
the only limitation, as the maximum take-off weight cannot be exceeded during
cruise either.
Considering these limitations, the range reduction during cruise of the DP
(maximum range for the maximum payload) can be determined. Then, the climb
and descent distances are assumed to be the same in both models.
Consequently, the cruise range reduction is equal to the mission range reduction.
This way, the payload-range diagram of the water storage model can be
represented considering all the restrictions. The new payload-range diagram
should look similar to the red dashed line of the diagram in Figure 4-6. The blue
line is taken from Figure 3-5 to represent the baseline aircraft. The range
reduction should result in the design point moving to the left, from DP to DP’.
Figure 4-6: Expected behaviour of the water-storing aircraft range.
4.1.3.2 Fuel burn penalty
As seen in the previous section, a payload-range diagram showing a different
design point is generated from the range reduction analysis. The new design
point given by that diagram is used to calculate the fuel burnt of the baseline and
the water storage models. Comparing the results of both models, the fuel burn
penalty is obtained.
The fuel burnt by the baseline model can be calculated in Matlab, adopting the
cruise initial weight, number of segments and cruise range directly from Hermes.
The water storing aircraft should have a higher cruise initial weight than the
51
baseline because it needs to carry more fuel to complete the same range, due to
the fuel overconsumption. This fact makes the calculation of the fuel burnt by the
water storing aircraft slightly more complex than for the case of the baseline
aircraft.
The procedure to calculate the fuel burn penalty of the water storing aircraft is as
follows:
1. Using Hermes, the range of the conventional aircraft is increased,
consequently increasing the amount of fuel that it requires for the mission,
what gives an augmented cruise initial weight.
2. With the new cruise initial conditions, a range reduction analysis is
conducted. This is done to verify that the range introduced in Hermes for
the conventional aircraft produces the DP’ range in the water storing
aircraft.
3. If the range reduction analysis proves that the range introduced in Hermes
was correct, the fuel burn penalty can be calculated. If, however, the range
reduction analysis provides a value of the range different to DP’, the
procedure must be repeated from step 1.
Once the answer to step 3 is positive, the fuel burn penalty is calculated
comparing the weight of the fuel burnt of the baseline and water storing models
at the end of cruise.
4.1.4 Water storage model implementation
The implementation of the water storage model in Matlab is explained in this
section. Different functions were created to include the algorithms and analyses
presented before. In the following subsections, each function is described. For
further details of the algorithms, see Sections 4.1.2 and 4.1.3.
4.1.4.1 Engine Drag
The Engine Drag function calculates the engine drag from the segment initial
weight. The algorithm with the different inputs and outputs is provided in Figure
4-7. Inputs are represented as entering arrows and outputs as exiting arrows. The
cruise initial weight is only required for the first loop.
52
Figure 4-7: Algorithm of engine drag calculation with inputs/outputs
4.1.4.2 Fuel consumption
The fuel consumption function determines the engine SFC taking the cruise
altitude, Mach number, and net thrust as inputs. This Matlab function calls the
Turbomatch software and introduces the cruise altitude, Mach number and net
thrust, obtaining the engine SFC as an output. The algorithm of this function with
the corresponding inputs and outputs is represented in Figure 4-8.
Figure 4-8: Algorithm of the fuel consumption calculation with inputs/outputs
4.1.4.3 Segment distance
A simple function to calculate the distance of each cruise segment was created.
Only the cruise range and the total number of segments are needed to calculate
this distance. Hermes simulation considers that the distance of the first and the
last cruise segments is half the length of the other segments. Consequently, a
new input is required in this function, the segment number. The inputs and
outputs are represented in Figure 4-9.
53
Figure 4-9: Inputs/Outputs for the segment distance calculation
4.1.4.4 Segment final weight
This function calculates the segment final weight from the engine fuel
consumption. The algorithm with the different inputs and outputs is provided in
Figure 4-10.
Figure 4-10: Algorithm of the segment final weight calculation with
inputs/outputs
In this case, the emission index input indicates the quantity of water per
kilogramme of fuel burnt that is stored on the aircraft. In the baseline case, the
value 0 is used for this input, because even though water is produced in the
combustion process, none of it is stored.
4.1.4.5 Range reduction analysis
This Matlab function determines the range reduction experienced by the water
storage model with reference to baseline model using the same amount of fuel.
This function brings together all the previous ones.
54
Firstly, a loop is implemented to obtain the aircraft baseline model during cruise.
Then, taking the total fuel burnt of this simulation as a reference, another loop
calculates the cruise range reduction due to the water-carrying of the aircraft. The
climb and descent distances are assumed to be the same as in the baseline case.
This assumption enables the calculation of the total reduced range of the water
storage aircraft.
This analysis requires many inputs and produces several outputs. There are two
kinds of outputs: Excel outputs and Matlab outputs. The Excel outputs are saved
in a matrix that has the same number of rows as number of segments and the
same number of columns as the number of excel outputs. This array is written in
an Excel file at the end of the loop. As there are two loops in this function, one for
each model, two arrays are generated and then written in different cells in the
same Excel sheet.
Inputs Outputs
Cruise altitude Segment number (Ex)
Mach number Cumulated time (Ex)
Cruise initial weight (He) Net thrust (Ex)
Cruise range (He) SFC (Ex)
Climb distance (He) Aircraft total weight (Ex)
Descent distance (He) Cruise segment fuel burn weight (Ex)
Segment total number (He) Cumulated fuel burn weight (Ex)
Segment distance (Ex)
Cruise covered distance (Ex)
Drag coefficient (Ex)
Lift coefficient (Ex)
Total reduced range
Validation variable
Table 4-1: Inputs/Outputs of the range reduction function
Two extra outputs are given by the Matlab function: the total reduced range of
the water storage model and a variable that informs if maximum T/O weight is
55
exceeded or not during cruise. All the inputs and outputs used in this function are
presented in Table 4-1.
The inputs marked with a He are extracted from Hermes aircraft performance
output. Furthermore, the outputs marked with an Ex are excel outputs, and they
are used in the comparison between the baseline and the water storage model.
4.1.4.6 Fuel burn penalty analysis
This Matlab function calculates the fuel burn penalty experienced by the water
storage model with reference to the baseline model that covers the same flying
distance. This function brings together the first four functions presented before.
Only one loop is implemented in this function to simulate the fuel burn penalty of
both the baseline and the water storage models during cruise. This loop is
simulated for the baseline model if the emission index input is defined as 0. If the
emission index input is set as 1.2592, the loop is simulated for the water storage
model. The meaning of the emission index input is explained in Section 4.1.4.4.
Inputs Outputs
Cruise altitude Segment number
Mach number Cumulated time
Cruise initial weight (He) Net thrust
Emission index input SFC
Cruise range (He) Aircraft total weight
Segment total number (He) Cruise segment fuel burn weight
Cumulated fuel burn weight
Segment distance
Cruise covered distance
Drag coefficient
Lift coefficient
Table 4-2: Inputs/Outputs of the fuel burn penalty analysis
This analysis requires many inputs and produces several outputs that are saved
in a matrix that has the same number of rows as number of segments and the
56
same number of columns as the number of excel outputs. This matrix is written
in Excel at the end of the loop, and it is written in different cells in the same Excel
sheet depending on the model simulated. All the inputs and outputs are provided
in Table 4-2. The inputs marked with a He are extracted from Hermes aircraft
performance output.
4.1.5 Matlab model validation
This subsection presents the validation of the baseline mode simulated with
Matlab with respect to the Hermes baseline model. As it was explained in the
methodology, the Matlab model only simulates the aircraft performance during
cruise. Thus, the results obtained during cruise performance for both models
were compared, analysing the deviation between them.
The Matlab baseline model during cruise was created imitating the method of the
software Hermes. For this reason, the cruise phase was divided into small
segments, as stated in the methodology. Then, both simulations were conducted
considering the DP of the payload-range diagram as the reference point. With
this aircraft payload-range combination, the performance outputs were calculated
for each cruise segment in the way specified in Section 4.1.4.6. The maximum
deviation of the different output parameters between Hermes and Matlab results
during cruise phase is presented in Table 4-3.
On the basis of these results, it could be concluded that the aircraft simulation
designed with Matlab was very accurate as the deviation of all parameters was
below or equal to 0.33%. The largest deviation corresponded to the cumulated
time. This deviation value was obtained in the first cruise segment because
Hermes does not use as many decimals as Matlab. During the cruise phase, this
error stabilised and reduced to values around 0.05%. This deviation is considered
a systematic error.
The deviation of the drag coefficient was random, and consequently, the drag
coefficient deviation is considered a random error. In the cases of the SCF and
cruise segment fuel burnt, the largest deviation value was obtained at the last
cruise segment. As it was expected, these results demonstrate that both
57
parameters are related. The error experienced by these two parameters is
systematic. The deviations of the other parameters were very low and they are
systematic errors.
Parameter Deviation
Cumulated time 0.33%
Net thrust 0.04%
SFC 0.24%
Aircraft total weight 0.01%
Cruise segment fuel burn weight 0.22%
Cumulated fuel burn weight 0.02%
Segment distance 0.00%
Cruise covered distance 0.00%
Drag coefficient 0.27%
Lift coefficient 0.10%
Table 4-3: Validation of Matlab model
In conclusion, the Matlab model was considered valid due to its accuracy in
relation to the Hermes software performance results during cruise.
4.2 Global Warming analysis
The main objective of the Global Warming analysis was to assess if the contrail
prevention counteracts the additionally emitted carbon dioxide. This additional
CO2 is emitted because of the fuel burn penalty. The value of this penalty was
obtained from the aircraft performance simulation carrying water.
To conduct this assessment, a Global Warming metric was selected. As the
residence time of CO2 and contrails is completely different, the selection process
was not an easy task. For this reason, in this section, firstly, the GW metric
selection is discussed and secondly, the model to analyse the GW impact of
contrails and CO2 with the selected metric is described.
58
4.2.1 Global Warming metric selection
Nowadays, the selection of a proper metric to assess the aviation Global
Warming impact is still an issue. As stated above, this is due to the different
residence time of aircraft emissions.
The different metrics that can measure the GW impact of aviation are defined and
explained in Section 2.2.1. These metrics are Radiative Forcing (RF), Global
Warming Potential (GWP) and Global Warming Temperature (GWT). The
advantages and disadvantages of each metric are presented in Table 4-4.
Advantages Disadvantages
RF Easily usable and understandable metric
Backward looking metric only based on current concentrations
GWP It analyses the GW impact of emissions on a timescale
Short-lived pollutants, whose occurrence is limited to some locations, is not suitably measured
GWT
The average surface temperature response to an emission is measured at a specific future point in time
More research is required on this metric
Table 4-4: Advantages and disadvantages of different GW metrics
Considering the information provided in Table 4-4, it was concluded that GWP
was not a proper metric to determine the GW impact of aviation, as emissions
with a short residence time are not suitably measured. Regarding GWT metric, it
is expected to replace GWP in the future, but further research on the metric is
required. Consequently, radiative forcing (RF) was selected as the metric to
measure the GW impact of aviation, even though it determines the current
imbalance of past emissions.
4.2.2 Global Warming impact of contrails and CO2
The procedure to assess the Global Warming impact of contrails and CO2 is
described in this section. This analysis was conducted to verify if the fuel burn
penalty due to the avoidance of contrails was beneficial for Global Warming.
59
A model to analyse the Global Warming impact of contrails and CO2 was
developed using the selected metric, radiative forcing. This model consists of a 1
m2 surface, and the global average emissions of aviation per sq m are located on
it. The average value was used because the occurrence of some emissions is
limited to some altitudes and latitudes. This model enables the analysis of the
radiative forcing of each individual aircraft pollutant.
Current values of radiative forcing only are not enough to measure the GW impact
of avoiding contrails. This is because radiative forcing is a backward looking
metric, and it only measures the current imbalance of past emissions. For this
reason, future scenarios of radiative forcing were considered to analyse the GW
effect of contrails avoidance. The radiative forcing values of 2005, 2020 and 2050
were extracted from reference (Lee et al. 2009) and presented in Appendix C.1.
With the RF forecast, the 1 m2 surface model could be used to determine if the
fuel burn penalty due to the avoidance of contrails was beneficial. But first, the
assumptions considered when contrails are prevented must be introduced:
Radiative forcing of contrails, cirrus clouds and water vapour are zero.
CO2 radiative forcing rate increases according to the fuel burn penalty of
the contrail prevention technique.
In this study, it was assumed that all the water produced by the fuel combustion
during cruise phase was collected and stored on the aircraft. This stored water
was then released at a lower altitude after the cruise phase. Consequently,
contrails and aircraft induced cirrus clouds formation was prevented during cruise
phase and their RF could be assumed zero. However, water vapour release was
not avoided as all the water collected was emitted at a lower altitude. According
to reference (Frömming et al. 2012), the global mean net RF of water vapour
reduces as the flight altitude decreases. In addition, if the water vapour is
released at a low altitude, in which weather clouds are present, H2O emissions
may condense. In this context, the radiative properties of water vapour can be
neglected.
60
In view of these assumptions, three different cases were defined to carry out the
Global Warming analysis of preventing contrails:
Contrails are not avoided
Contrails are prevented in 2005
Contrails are prevented in 2020
Obviously, the second case is technically impossible as the technology has not
been implemented yet. The same happens with the third case as this contrail
avoidance technique is insufficiently mature to be implemented in 2020.
However, the three cases were considered because they allowed for calculating
the net radiative forcing impact of avoiding contrails. In addition, the effect of
avoiding contrails in different years could also be studied.
61
5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In the first section of this chapter the water-carrying aircraft performance results
are presented and discussed. Then, the second section provides the results of
the Global Warming analysis conducted with the previous results. Finally, a
general discussion of the results is carried out.
5.1 Aircraft performance
This simulation studied the effect of water storage on aircraft, with respect to the
baseline aircraft. To achieve this purpose, two analyses were conducted. The first
one consisted in analysing the range reduction of the water storage model in
relation to the baseline model using the same amount of fuel. The second
analysis measured the fuel burn penalty of the water storage model with regard
to the baseline model for the same covered range. In the following sections, the
results of these two analyses are provided.
5.1.1 Range reduction analysis
To analyse the range reduction experienced by the water storage aircraft, the
payload-range diagram of the baseline aircraft, which is illustrated in Figure 3-5,
was used as the reference curve. Then, the payload-range diagram of the water
storage model was obtained applying the methodology and implementation in
Matlab provided in Sections 4.1.3.1 and 4.1.4.5. The range reduction was only
measured during cruise so that the same amount of fuel was burnt in both models
during this flight phase. Climb and descent distances were assumed to be equal
for the baseline and the water storage aircraft models.
The range reduction experienced by the water storage compared to the baseline
aircraft is illustrated in Figure 5-1. In this diagram, three different curves were
represented.
The black curve represents the payload-range of the baseline model, taking into
account the typical weight restrictions:
Maximum payload weight, which produced the horizontal line from 0 to 1.
62
Maximum T/O weight, which produced the slope between 1 and 2. The
maximum T/O weight represents the mechanical integrity limits of aircraft
structures. As in conventional aircraft the maximum weight occurs at the
beginning of the mission, this weight limitation is known as T/O weight.
Maximum fuel that could be stored in the fuel tanks of the aircraft, which
produced the slope between 2 and 3.
The blue curve illustrates the range reduction experienced by the water storage
aircraft when the same amount of fuel was used in both baseline and water
storage aircraft. The limitations for the blue curve were the same as for the black
curve.
However, when water is stored on the aircraft, the weight increases during cruise
phase. This way, it could be possible to exceed the maximum T/O weight during
cruise, so that this limitation, instead of being considered only for T/O, must be
considered for the cruise phase too. This way, the red line was produced, which
is the actual payload-range curve of the water-storing aircraft.
Figure 5-1: Baseline aircraft payload-range diagram and different limitations of
the water storage aircraft payload-range diagram
The range reduction of points 1, 2 and 3 is shown in Table 5-1. The most
interesting point of this analysis is point 1, as it corresponds to the DP of the
0
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50000
60000
70000
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0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000
Pay
load
(kg
)
Range (km)HERMES baseline aircraft Water storage aircraft- Fuel restriction
Water storage aircraft- max T/O W restriction
63
aircraft model. The range reduction that occurred at DP was quite high, due to
the large amount of water stored on the aircraft during this long range
configuration. In addition, the relative range reduction in percentage increased
until point 2, where the maximum reduction was achieved, and then decreased
until point 3.
Point Baseline range Water storage range Deviation
Point 1 12,335 km 9,469 km 23.23%
Point 2 16,200 km 11,845 km 26.88%
Point 3 17,021 km 13,276 km 22.00%
Table 5-1: Range reduction analysis
Based on this data, it was concluded that the longest the range of the baseline
aircraft, the higher the range reduction. This conclusion is only valid until point 2.
From this point, the range difference between both models decreased in
magnitude and consequently, in relative values. The final representation of the
baseline aircraft and the final water storage aircraft payload-range diagrams is
provided in Figure 5-2.
Figure 5-2: Baseline aircraft and water storage aircraft payload-range diagrams
0
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)
Range (km)
HERMES baseline aircraft Water storage aircraft- max T/O W restriction
64
5.1.2 Fuel burn penalty analysis
Once the previous analysis was performed, the DP of the water storage aircraft
payload-range diagram was selected for the fuel burn penalty analysis. The DP
point corresponded to the maximum range with the maximum possible payload
weight. The fuel burn penalty was calculated comparing the fuel burnt by the
baseline and water storage models following the methodology and
implementation explained in Sections 4.1.3.2 and 4.1.4.6.
In the previous analysis, it was assumed that the climb and descent distances in
both models were the same because they were carrying the same amount of fuel.
In this case, however, to be able to fly the same range as the baseline model, the
water-storing aircraft must carry more fuel. As a consequence, the weight of the
water storage aircraft was higher, what implies that the descent and climb
distances are different for the two models. If the aircraft is heavier, it would need
a longer distance to climb to the same altitude than a lighter aircraft. For the
descent, the opposite effect occurs.
In the following charts, the results of aircraft weight, thrust, SFC and finally, fuel
burnt of both aircraft models are illustrated.
5.1.2.1 Aircraft total weight comparative analysis
The total weight of the water storage aircraft increased during the cruise phase,
as can be observed in Figure 5-3 below. This pattern was the expected result
because the emission index of water is higher than 1, so per 1 kg of fuel burnt
more than 1 kg of water was produced and stored.
The aircraft total weight difference at the initial point of cruise arose because the
extra fuel burnt by the water storage aircraft was considered and introduced on
the aircraft. As can be seen in the chart, this deviation was not very high.
However, the difference on aircraft weight was seen to significantly grow at the
end of the cruise phase. The reason behind this growth was that, at that point of
the phase, all the water that had been produced was stored on the aircraft.
Finally, although the weight change during the cruise phase seemed linear in both
cases, only the water storage aircraft weight varies in an almost linear manner.
65
The baseline aircraft weight curve was not a perfect line. This fact is clarified later
with the fuel burnt chart.
Figure 5-3: Aircraft total weight variation during cruise
In Table 5-2, the initial and final aircraft weight during weights are presented, as
well as the percentage deviation between them.
Baseline aircraft Water storage aircraft Deviation
Initial value 493,658 kg 520,517 kg 5.44%
Final value 366,593 kg 559,998 kg 52.76%
Table 5-2: Initial and final values of aircraft total weight during cruise
5.1.2.2 Thrust comparative analysis
According to thrust analysis, as can be observed in Figure 5-4, the thrust required
during cruise decreased in the baseline case, where the altitude and Mach
number were held constant. This is the usual performance of conventional
aircraft. The thrust requirement of the water storage aircraft, however, increased
during cruise. This thrust variation also followed the expected behaviour, as the
aircraft weight was increasing during this flight phase because of the increasing
amount of stored water.
300000
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550000
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0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Air
craf
t w
eigh
t (k
g)
% Cruise mission
Water storage aircraft Baseline aircraft
66
Figure 5-4: Thrust required variation during cruise
In Table 5-3, the initial and final values of thrust during cruise are presented, with
the percentage deviation between them. The thrust difference at the initial point
of cruise was caused because of the additional amount of fuel required by the
water storage aircraft to complete the flight mission. The rise of thrust difference
between both models at the end of the cruise phase was provoked by the aircraft
total weight increase due to the stored water during cruise. Although the thrust
variation seems linear in both models, the water storage thrust aircraft curve has
a more linear pattern than the baseline case.
Baseline aircraft Water storage aircraft Deviation
Initial value 66.57 kN 69.43 kN 4.30%
Final value 55 kN 73.94 kN 34.43%
Table 5-3: Initial and final values of thrust during cruise
5.1.2.3 SFC comparative analysis
Regarding the SFC variation of both models during cruise, a similar result to those
seen for weight and thrust was obtained, as can be seen in Figure 5-5. The SFC
of the baseline aircraft decreased during the cruise phase because of the
40000
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70000
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0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Thru
st (
N)
% Cruise mission
Water storage aircraft Baseline aircraft
67
decrease in weight and, consequently, decrease in thrust requirements. The SFC
of the water storage aircraft, on the contrary, increased due to the continuous
collection of water. A small discontinuity was observed in the water storage
aircraft at around 10% of the cruise mission. As can be observed in Figure 5-4,
the thrust required during cruise did not present any irregularity during cruise.
Consequently, as the SFC is the fuel flow to thrust ratio, the discontinuity must
had been caused because Turbomatch calculated a slightly high value of the fuel
flow.
Figure 5-5: SFC variation during cruise
As can be observed in Table 5-4, the deviation of the SFC at the beginning and
at the end of the cruise phase was smaller than for aircraft weight and thrust. This
is because the SFC is a fuel flow to thrust ratio, and the reduction in one was
almost compensated by the reduction of the other, so the relationship between
them did not change much.
Baseline aircraft Water storage aircraft Deviation
Initial value 15.55 mg/(N s) 15.65 mg/(N s) 0.64%
Final value 15.41 mg/(N s) 15.85 mg/(N s) 2.86%
Table 5-4: Initial and final values of SFC during cruise
14.6
14.8
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SFC
(m
g/N
s)
% Cruise mission
Water storage aircraft Baseline aircraft
68
The SFC of the water storage aircraft varied in a linear manner, except for the
irregularity. The baseline aircraft SFC, however, decreased and achieved a
minimum value at the last segments of the cruise phase, showing a non-linear
pattern. This is the typical behaviour of conventional aircraft: there is a point
during the cruise phase at which a minimum SFC value is achieved, and after
that point, it increases. This increase happens because the engine is operating
at low power settings. From the minimum point, the fuel flow does not decrease
as fast as the thrust, so the SFC increases. This behaviour can be further studied
in reference (Cohen, Rogers, and Saravanamuttoo 1996).
5.1.2.4 Fuel burnt comparative analysis
Finally, the fuel burnt results during cruise, which allow for the fuel burn penalty
calculation, are provided in Figure 5-6. The ordinate axis represents the amount
of fuel burnt between the beginning and the specified fraction of cruise. As can
be observed, the water storage aircraft had consumed more fuel at the end of
cruise than the baseline aircraft. This was the expected performance as the
aircraft total weight, the thrust and the SFC were higher in the case of the water
storage aircraft, what resulted in a higher fuel consumption.
Figure 5-6: Total fuel burnt during cruise
0
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bu
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Water storage aircraft Baseline aircraft
69
Both curves started from the coordinate origin, and they increased until they
reached the final values stated in Table 5-5. The final cruise difference and
deviation of the total fuel burnt represents the overconsumed fuel and the fuel
burn penalty of the water storage aircraft, respectively, in comparison to the
baseline aircraft during the cruise phase. In this case the irregularity observed in
the SFC curve did not have a notable effect, despite the relationship between the
SFC and the fuel burn weight. This is because the irregularity was so small that
when calculating the cumulative value, it was not appreciated.
The total fuel burnt curve in the case of the water storage aircraft followed an
almost linear pattern, while the baseline aircraft total fuel burnt variation slightly
decreased during the cruise mission. For this reason, the aircraft total weight of
the baseline aircraft described before did not vary in a linear manner. In addition,
it can be observed that the distance between both curves increases as the cruise
distance covered by the aircraft increases.
Baseline aircraft Water storage aircraft Deviation
Initial value 0 kg 0 kg 0 %
Final value 127,314 kg 152,581 kg 19.85%
Table 5-5: Initial and final values of total fuel burnt during cruise
The water storing aircraft consumed a total of 25,267 kg more fuel than the
baseline aircraft, which represented a 19.85% of fuel burn penalty during cruise.
If the total fuel weight difference is multiplied by the CO2 emission index, which
was specified in the literature survey, the total weight of the extra emitted CO2
resulted in 79,687 kg.
To conclude this section, the specified fuel burn penalty was only applied to the
cruise phase. The fuel burn penalty of the whole flight mission was measured
dividing the weight of the overconsumed fuel during the cruise phase by the
weight of the fuel burnt to complete the whole mission. From this calculation, the
fuel burn penalty of introducing this contrail prevention technique was estimated
to be of 17.35% for the DP payload-range.
70
5.2 Global Warming analysis
The main purpose of the Global Warming analysis was to assess if the net
balance between the positive effect of avoiding contrails and the negative effect
of the additionally emitted CO2 is beneficial. In this section, the results of the
Global Warming analysis are presented.
The methodology of this analysis was detailed in Section 4.2.2. As explained
there, this study was carried out with the results of the aircraft performance.
Therefore, the DP of the payload-range diagram obtained for the water storage
aircraft, was used as the reference point. This way, a 17.35% mission fuel burn
penalty was considered, what is the same as considering a 17.35% increase in
CO2 emission.
As stated in the methodology, RF future scenarios1 were used as a basis for the
three assumed cases proposed for this analysis:
Contrails are not avoided before 2050
Contrails are avoided in 2005
Contrails are avoided in 2020
The RF values of the first assumed case are provided in Appendix C.1. The RF
values of the two cases where contrails are avoided are provided in Appendices
C.2 and C.3. To discuss these results, three bar charts were made to measure
the RF of the contaminants during different years for the three difference cases:
Radiative forcing of CO2
Total aviation RF without including aircraft induced cirrus (AIC)
Total aviation RF including aircraft induced cirrus (AIC)
5.2.1 Analysis of the radiative forcing of CO2
Figure 5-7 was created with the CO2 results given in Appendix C.4. The CO2
radiative forcing is represented on the y axis, while the different years and
1 There are five different future scenarios. One corresponds to year 2020. The other four correspond to different possibilities of year 2050.For more information, refer to Appendix C.1.
71
scenarios are introduced in the x axis. The three assumed cases are presented
with colour bars on each year scenario.
Figure 5-7: CO2 radiative forcing of the different scenarios for the three assumed
cases
The blue bar was taken directly from the public domain information and it was
taken as a reference to which the other cases were compared. The red bar
corresponded to the case in which contrails are avoided in 2005, and the yellow
bar corresponded to the case of avoiding contrails in 2020. The variation of these
bars from the blue one was determined using the 17.35% increase in the CO2
emissions since the year contrails were avoided. For example, if the radiative
forcing without contrail avoidance (blue bar) was predicted to increase x%, if the
contrail avoiding technique was implemented, the increase in the RF would be of
1.1735*x%. The relative changes of the red and yellow bars with respect to the
blue one for the five future scenarios are provided in Appendix C.4.
Looking at Figure 5-7, a slight rise of the CO2 radiative forcing of year 2020 was
observed in the case contrails were avoided in 2005. The radiative forcing of CO2
of year 2050 increased much more notably, as the contrail avoidance technique
would have been operative for a longer time, increasing the amount of CO2 in the
0.00
0.01
0.02
0.03
0.04
0.05
0.06
0.07
0.08
0.09
0.10
2005 2020* 2050 A1t1* 2050 A1t2* 2050 B2t1* 2050 B2t2*
Rad
iati
ve F
orc
ing
(W/m
2 )
Contrails not avoided No contrails since 2005 No contrails since 2020
72
atmosphere. As can be observed in the blue bars, the first two scenarios of 2050
consider a high amount of CO2 in the atmosphere because they are really
optimistic about the future aviation growth, while the last ones are more
conservative. In addition, the difference between both technology levels can be
also appreciated because the t2 case was more focused on reducing NOx to the
CO2 detriment. Consequently, the radiative forcing of CO2 is higher with a t2
option than with a t1 option.
Furthermore, it could be concluded from Figure 5-7 that the later the contrail
avoidance technique based on water collection and storage is implemented, the
lower the environmental impact of CO2.
5.2.2 Analysis of the radiative forcing of total aviation without AIC
For this section, the radiative forcing of all the aviation pollutants were
considered, except for the AIC, because of the high uncertainty of the mean RF
value of AIC.
The chart represented in Figure 5-8 was created with the total aviation radiative
forcing given in Appendix C.4. The axes and bars represent the same as is the
chart of the previous section. The variation of the red and yellow bar was
determined considering the changes in CO2, water vapour and contrails radiative
forcing, as the other pollutants do not change with the inclusion of the water
storing technique. The relative changes of the red and yellow bars with respect
to the blue one for the different scenarios are provided in Appendix C.4.
A huge drop of the total aviation radiative forcing would occur for 2020 in the case
contrails were avoided in 2005. For the year 2050 scenarios, the total aviation RF
in both contrail avoidance cases would decrease vastly too, due to the importance
of contrails and water vapour in total aviation RF, even though CO2 radiative
forcing would increase, as shown in Figure 5-7. As can be observed in the tables
given in Appendix C.4, the RF reduction in the first two scenarios of 2050 would
be larger than in the last ones. In addition, the reduction with the t2 setting would
be higher than with the t1 setting. The reason for this is that even though the CO2
73
RF would increase, the total aviation RF would lower with t2 because the
influence of contrails and water vapour in the total RF is greater.
Figure 5-8: Total aviation radiative forcing of the different scenarios for the three
assumed cases (AIC not considered)
It can be concluded from Figure 5-8 that the later the contrail avoidance technique
based on water collection and storage is implemented, the lower the
environmental impact of aviation. This conclusion is a consequence of the final
comment suggested at the end of the CO2 analysis. The reason for this difference
between the red and yellow bars in the different 2050 scenarios is the CO2
emitted from 2005 to 2020. Finally, the reduction of total aviation radiative forcing
due to the studied prevention technique varies between around 23% and 33% in
2050 when AIC were not considered.
5.2.3 Analysis of the radiative forcing of total aviation with AIC
The chart represented in Figure 5-9 was created considering the total aviation
radiative forcing given in Appendix C.4. In this case, AIC were included in the RF
analysis. Despite the great uncertainty of the mean RF value of AIC, the effect of
aviation induced cirrus is present and it had to be considered. The axis and bars
configuration is the same as explained in the previous charts. The variation of the
0.00
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.10
0.12
0.14
0.16
0.18
0.20
2005 2020* 2050 A1t1* 2050 A1t2* 2050 B2t1* 2050 B2t2*
Rad
iati
ve F
orc
ing
(W/m
2 )
Contrails not avoided No contrails since 2005 No contrails since 2020
74
red and yellow bar was determined considering the changes in CO2, water
vapour, contrails and AIC radiative forcing. The percentage changes between the
blue and the red and yellow bars for the different scenarios are provided in
Appendix C.4.
Figure 5-9: Total aviation radiative forcing of the different scenarios for the three
assumed cases (AIC considered)
Considering the AIC did not have any effect on the 2050 scenarios for the cases
of contrail avoidance, because the aircraft induced cirrus radiative forcing is null
in those cases. AIC do have an effect on blue bars, because their RF is taken
into account, increasing the total RF. Consequently, all the RF reductions
experienced in this chart are greater than in the previous one.
The pattern obtained in Figure 5-9 is very similar to the one in Figure 5-8 but with
greater RF reductions. For this reason, the comments and discussion of the
previous analysis can be also applied to this one. Finally, the reduction of total
aviation radiative forcing due to the studied prevention technique varies between
around 40% and 50% in 2050 if AIC were included in the calculation.
In conclusion, according to the results obtained from this analysis, the net effect
of this contrail avoidance technique would be positive from a radiative forcing
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25
0.30
0.35
2005 2020* 2050 A1t1* 2050 A1t2* 2050 B2t1* 2050 B2t2*
Rad
iati
ve F
orc
ing
(W/m
2)
Contrail not avoided No contrails since 2005 No contrails since 2020
75
point of view. This is because the positive effect of avoiding contrails would larger
than the negative effect of emitting more CO2.
5.3 Discussion of results
In this section, the previously explained results are further discussed so that the
conclusions of this project are built on a solid foundation. The section is divided
into two subsections: aircraft performance and Global Warming analysis.
5.3.1 Aircraft performance
The results obtained of the aircraft performance, both for range reduction and for
fuel burn penalty were as expected. These results did not only provide a
numerical value of the penalties of the contrail avoidance technique based on
water storage, but also proved that the methodology was valid and could be
applied to different projects in the future.
The range reduction experienced by the water storage aircraft was significant in
comparison to the range of the baseline aircraft. This reduction varied between
22% and 26.88% for points in the diagonal lines of the payload-range diagram of
Figure 5-2. Looking at this chart, it can be seen that the payload-range curves of
the baseline and water-storing aircraft separate with increasing range of the
baseline model, until the maximum fuel weight limitation of the diagram is reached
(point 2). This implies that the longer the range of the baseline aircraft, the higher
the range reduction experienced by the water storage aircraft (only up to point 2).
Then the lines start to get closer. This conclusion was stated only analysing the
DP and points 2 and 3, which were on the right side of the DP. For this reason,
to verify that this statement was correct, an additional range reduction analysis
was conducted, considering the design point and points to the left and to the right
of the DP. The points used for this analysis were on the curve of the payload-
range diagram.
The results, given in Table 5-6, demonstrated that the previous statement was
correct, as the range difference between both aircraft models increased until
16200km in the baseline model (point 2), and then decreased. Moreover, from
this analysis, it was concluded that the range limitation of the water storage
76
aircraft for short and mid-ranges is the fuel restriction and not the maximum T/O
weight during cruise, which was the case of long-ranges. This is because for long
ranges it is necessary to carry more fuel, so that more water is generated in
cruise. Finally, an important point to keep in mind is that for short and mid-ranges
the deviation is not very high. Hence, the avoidance technique does not have a
great impact on the performance of the aircraft.
Baseline aircraft range (km)/ Payload
(kg)
3,000/
83,700
6,000/
83,700
9,000/
83,700
12,335/
83,700
16,200/
31,207
17,020.9/
0
Water storage aircraft range
(km) 2,954.6 5,651.4 8,048 9,469 11,845.2 13,276
Difference (km)
45.4 348.6 952 2,866 4,354.8 3,744.9
Deviation 1.51% 5.81% 10.58% 23.23% 26.88% 22.00%
Table 5-6: Range reduction in magnitude and in percentage terms
Another point to discuss regarding the range reduction analysis is the assumption
of considering the climb and descent distances the same for the baseline and
water storage aircraft models. In addition, the same aircraft and engine weights
were considered for both cases, but in reality, the water storage would have an
extra weight because more devices would be required for water condensation.
Based on these considerations, the climb distance would be similar for both cases
as their fuel weight would almost equal in a real situation, and only a small
variation of engine and aircraft weight should be considered. However, the
descent distance may change drastically in the water storage model as the
aircraft weight is much higher due to the water collected and stored during cruise.
Furthermore, the water would be released during the descent phase, so the
aircraft performance would change even more. The descent performance of the
aircraft was not included in the scope of the present thesis and for this reason,
the assumption of considering the same distances as in the baseline case was
stated.
77
Regarding the fuel burnt analysis, the climb and descent distances were not the
same for the baseline and water storage aircraft models, as the water storage
aircraft required more fuel than the baseline aircraft for the same range. As the
baseline aircraft was lighter than the water storage aircraft during climb, the climb
distance and the fuel consumption were smaller than in the baseline case. The
descent performance, on the contrary, was facilitated for the heavier water-
storing aircraft, what reduced the descent distance and fuel consumption of the
aircraft during descent.
Focusing on the graphical results of the fuel burnt analysis, the cause of the
aircraft total weight difference between water storage and baseline aircraft at the
beginning of cruise might seem to be the extra fuel burnt by the water storage
model during the cruise phase. However, not only the extra fuel burn affect this
difference, but also the contingency of this extra fuel and the different fuel
consumption during the descent phase.
Another interesting point to discuss around the fuel burnt analysis is the final
result. A 17.35% increase in fuel consumption was experienced by the water
storage aircraft during cruise at DP payload-range configuration. The analysis
was conducted only for one point of the payload-range diagram. Consequently,
in Section 5.3.1.1, the results of a fuel burnt sensitivity analysis developed for
lower range and payload settings are provided. The maximum fuel burn penalty
of the water storage technique is also included in Section 5.3.1.1.
Both range reduction and fuel burn penalty analyses were carried out assuming
that all the water produced from the fuel combustion process was collected and
stored. The condensation device designed in reference (Qureshi 2016) enables
the whole condensation of water. However, this is the extreme situation of
collecting and storing the water, because maybe not all the water needs to be
condensed to avoid contrails. Therefore, the aircraft performance results
represented the maximum penalties for range and fuel burnt of this contrail
avoidance technique. An analysis considering different amounts of collected
water is carried out in Section 5.3.1.2. Valuable conclusions were extracted from
78
this analysis, which may be useful for future work about this contrail avoidance
technique.
Furthermore, not only different amounts of collected water should be considered,
but also that maybe water storage on the aircraft is not necessary. It could be
possible to recirculate the condensed water could in the aircraft and then, emit it
into the atmosphere in a different state and with different particle properties. The
purpose of this process would be to reduce, not eliminate, the radiative forcing of
contrails, and consequently, of aircraft induced cirrus clouds.
5.3.1.1 Fuel burnt sensitivity analysis
The fuel burnt analysis was only performed for the DP payload-range setting. To
consider lower range and payload settings, a sensitivity analysis of the fuel burnt
was carried out. Only lower range and payload setting were selected because the
design point corresponds to the maximum range for the maximum possible
payload.
Before performing the sensitivity analysis, the fuel burn penalty of different
situations had to be calculated. Firstly, points with shorter ranges and DP payload
were selected. And secondly, points with lighter payload and DP range were
chosen. The methodology of this calculations was the same as in the case of the
fuel burn penalty analysis.
The fuel burn penalty results of points with shorter range and points with smaller
payload are provided in Table 5-7 and Table 5-8, respectively. The fuel burn
penalty was measured in both cases during cruise and during the flight mission.
Range (km) 2,367.25 4,734.5 7,101.75 9,469
Fuel burn penalty during cruise
2.06% 5.99% 11.27% 19.85%
Fuel burn penalty (Mission)
1.29% 4.74% 9.56% 17.35%
Table 5-7: Fuel burn penalty of points with shorter range and DP payload
79
Payload (kg) 20,925 41,850 62,775 83,700
Fuel burn penalty during cruise
14.56% 16.12% 17.86% 19.85%
Fuel burn penalty (Mission)
12.85% 14.20% 15.68% 17.35%
Table 5-8: Fuel burn penalty of points with smaller payload and DP range
From these results, a sensitivity analysis of the mission fuel burn penalty was
conducted comparing how a reduction of range and a reduction in payload affect
to the main parameter, the mission fuel burn penalty. This comparison is
represented in Figure 5-10.
Figure 5-10: Fuel burn penalty sensitivity analysis
This figure demonstrates that range changes have a greater impact on the fuel
burn penalty than changes in payload. This analysis confirms that this contrails
avoidance technique does not have a great impact on the aircraft performance
for short and mid-ranges, because the reduction in fuel burn penalty with respect
to DP is very high for short ranges. For instance, it can be observed from Table
5-7 that the fuel burn penalty of a mission that covers 4734.5 km is 4.74%.
However, when the covered distance extends to 7101.75 km, the fuel burn
-100%
-75%
-50%
-25%
0%
-75% -50% -25% 0%
Fuel
bu
rn p
enal
ty r
edu
ctio
n
Payload/range reduction
Payload Range
80
penalty increases to 9.56%. As can be observed in Table 5-8, the impact of
payload in the fuel burn penalty of the mission is not as important as the impact
of range.
In the current analysis, the fuel burn penalties are lower than the DP value
because shorter ranges are studied. The maximum fuel burn penalty of the
payload-range diagram corresponds to the maximum range point. In this point a
29.26% and a 26.56% fuel burn penalties are obtained during cruise and during
the mission respectively.
Regarding the shape of the curves in Figure 5-10, the payload curve is nearly
linear, while the range curve is more similar to a parabolic curve. The reason for
obtaining different patterns is that the reduction of payload produces a drop in the
fuel consumption during the mission, so less fuel has to be carried. The
relationship between this reduction of mission fuel weight and the decrease of
payload is almost linear, what results in a linear relationship between payload
reduction and fuel burn penalty reduction.
The relationship between range reduction and mission fuel weight is not linear.
This is because the smaller the range, the lesser the importance of the cruise
phase. Hence, the water collected and stored on the aircraft is low for short hauls,
so range changes do not significantly affect to the fuel consumption of the aircraft.
For this reason, the slope of the range curve in Figure 5-10 is less steep in short
hauls. In the case of long hauls, the amount of water collected and stored on the
aircraft is much higher than in short hauls. Consequently, the aircraft fuel
consumption increases enormously in this case. Thus, the slope of the range
curve is steeper in long than in short hauls. All this explanation justifies the
parabolic shape of the range curve in Figure 5-10.
Finally, it can be concluded from this sensitivity analysis that the impact of range
on the fuel burn penalty of this contrail avoidance technique is noteworthy. This
analysis enhances the statement that the implementation of this contrail
avoidance technique is attractive for short and mid-ranges.
81
5.3.1.2 Water collection analysis
In the present MSc project, the calculations presented in the results section
considered that all the water produced by the combustion process was collected
and stored. But maybe the condensation of all the produced water was not
required for contrail prevention. Accordingly, an analysis considering different
amounts of collected water was conducted. The methodology of this calculation
was the same as in the range reduction analysis. In Figure 5-11, the payload-
range diagrams of the baseline aircraft and different collection configurations of
the water storage aircraft are represented, for the same amount of fuel. In this
figure, the black and red curves represent the baseline and water storage aircraft.
The other water storage curves calculated represent aircraft that, while having
the contrail prevention technique implemented, do not store all the water
produced.
Figure 5-11: Payload-range diagrams of the baseline aircraft and different water
storage configuration aircraft for the same amount of fuel
This figure shows that the shapes of the 25%, 50% and 75% water storage
diagrams are more similar to the baseline diagram shape than to the 100% water
storage aircraft. The reason for this is that the limitations applied for the
generation of these curves were the same. These limitations were the maximum
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
70000
80000
90000
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000
Pay
load
(kg
)
Range (km)
HERMES baseline aircraft 25% water storage 50% water storage
75% water storage 100% Water storage
82
T/O weight and the maximum fuel weight. Recalling from Section 5.1.1, the red
curve, which corresponds to the 100% water storage aircraft, has another pattern
because it considered that the maximum T/O weight could not be exceeded
during the cruise phase. The maximum T/O weight limitation during cruise must
only be considered if the weight of the stored water exceeds the fuel burn weight.
For the weight of the stored water to exceed the fuel burn weight it is necessary
to store at least 79.4% of the water produced. To calculate this limit value, the
condition is that the weight at the beginning and end of cruise is the same. This
happens when the weight of the stored water is equal to the weight of the fuel
burnt. To calculate the weight of the stored water, the total weight of the fuel is
multiplied by the product of the emission index and the percentage of the stored
water. If this product is higher than one (which happens for percentages above
79.4%) the weight of the aircraft will increase.
The range reduction depending on the amount of stored water is provided in
Table 5-9. As can be observed, the lesser the water stored, the smaller the range
reduction. Moreover, an almost linear pattern is observed between the range
reduction and the amount of stored water, except for the 100% water storage
aircraft. This is because the maximum T/O weight cannot be exceeded during
cruise and the range is even more restricted than in the other cases.
Baseline
range Water storage
range Deviation
25% Water storage 12,335 km 11,836 km 4.05%
50% Water storage 12,335 km 11,353 km 7.96%
75% Water storage 12,335 km 10,839 km 12.13%
100% Water storage 12,335 km 9,469 km 23.23%
Table 5-9: DP range reduction of the water storage configurations on the
payload-range diagram
Using the payload-range design point of each water storage configuration, the
fuel burn penalty analysis of the different water storage configurations during
cruise and the whole mission was conducted and the results are represented in
83
Table 5-10. The methodology of this calculation was the same as in the fuel burnt
analysis. From this table, it is demonstrated that the lesser the water stored, the
lower the fuel burn penalty due to the water storage technique during both cruise
and flight mission. In addition, a parabolic relationship is observed between the
fuel burn penalty and the amount of stored water, except again for the 100%
water storage aircraft. This is because the range of this water storage aircraft did
not follow the sequence in the previous table, so the result in this table is
accordingly altered.
25% Water storage
50% Water storage
75% Water storage
100% Water storage
Fuel burn penalty during cruise
4.91% 10.40% 16.63% 19.85%
Fuel burn penalty (mission)
4.33% 9.17% 14.65% 17.35%
Table 5-10: Fuel burn penalty of the water storage configurations
To sum up, the most valuable conclusions about the water storage technique are
repeated here. On the one hand, the maximum T/O weight limitation must only
be considered during cruise when the stored water weight is higher than the fuel
burn weight. On the other hand, the lesser the water stored, the smaller the range
reduction and the lower the fuel burn penalty.
5.3.2 Global Warming analysis
In the global warming analysis a comparison between the GW positive effect of
avoiding contrails and the GW negative effect of the extra CO2 emitted to the
atmosphere was conducted. In this section, before focusing on the results, the
great disadvantage of the implementation of the studied contrail avoidance
technique is discussed.
The aim of the water storage technique is to avoid the contrail formation. When
the formation of contrails is avoided, the radiative forcing of contrails, AIC and
water vapour become zero a few hours after they are banned. However, this
contrail avoidance technique is accompanied with an increase in CO2 emissions.
These emissions could remain in the atmosphere between 5 and 200 years
84
(IPCC 2007). Consequently, it is not justified to implement contrail avoidance
techniques in the near future even though a positive radiative forcing balance is
obtained. Additionally, nowadays the CO2 policies are very restrictive, and an
increase in CO2 emissions is not contemplated. Therefore, contrail avoidance
techniques must be introduced in the distant future if the fuel burn penalty is less
significant.
Moreover, it was concluded from the GW analysis that the later the contrail
avoidance technique based on water collection and storage is implemented, the
lower the environmental impact of aviation. Hence, this conclusion of the GW
analysis goes hand in hand with the comments previously stated.
Focusing on the calculations carried out in the GW analysis, a point to highlight
is the total aviation radiative forcing calculation considering the aircraft induced
cirrus. The mean RF value of AIC presents a great uncertainty. Nevertheless, the
effect of aviation induced cirrus is present in the atmosphere and it has to be
considered. The high uncertainty in the radiative forcing of cirrus clouds is due to
their coverage, which varies enormously depending on the latitude.
Consequently, to study this uncertainty, a sensitivity analysis is conducted in
Section 5.3.2.1 below.
Regarding the final results of the Global Warming analysis, it was concluded that
a net positive effect was achieved due to the implementation of the studied
contrails avoidance technique. This final result was stated using the radiative
forcing to measure the net balance between the positive effect of avoiding
contrails and the negative effect of emitting more CO2. However, as it was stated
in the GW metric selection in the methodology, the radiative forcing only
measures the current imbalance of past aviation emissions, and does not account
for the impact that long-lived pollutants will have in the future. This disadvantage
remains even if future scenarios are introduced in the analysis. In the year 2050
scenario, for example, the RF would be accounting for the pollutants emitted until
that moment, but not for the effect that those pollutants will have after year 2050.
For this reason, the results of this analysis do not reflect the environmental impact
of some emissions after year 2050, e.g. carbon dioxide. To study even further
85
future scenarios, it should be necessary to estimate the RF of further years 2100,
2150, etc. which is not viable. In conclusion, a better metric is required in aviation
to measure the real GW impact of the emissions.
5.3.2.1 AIC radiative forcing sensitivity analysis
The obtained results of the radiative forcing of total aviation showed that the RF
reduction due to the studied contrails prevention technique varies between
around 40% and 50% in 2050 if aircraft induced cirrus clouds were included in
the calculation. However, the radiative forcing of AIC presents the highest
uncertainty of the aviation emissions. Consequently, in this section, this
uncertainty is analysed. The purpose of this analysis was to determine the RF
reduction experienced by the total aviation radiative forcing due to the water
storage technique considering a 90% confidence range of the AIC radiative
forcing.
The maximum and minimum values of 90% confidence range of the AIC radiative
forcing were used to calculate the radiative forcing of total aviation for the three
assumed cases. The followed methodology was the same as in the Global
Warming analysis. The results of the calculation are given in Appendix C.5.
From these results, depending on the future scenario, the total aviation radiative
forcing could be reduced between 18% and 72% in 2050 thanks to the water
storage technique. This result can be shocking because the minimum reduction
value of this sensitivity analysis (18%) is lower than the minimum reduction value
of the analysis when AIC are not considered (23.4%), which was explained using
Figure 5-8. However, the reason for this is that the radiative forcing of contrails is
included in the AIC radiative forcing. Hence, also the contrails uncertainty is
considered in the current sensitivity analysis.
87
6 CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK
In this chapter, the conclusions based on the previous discussion of the results
and future work of the project are presented.
6.1 Conclusions
First of all, the implementation of the contrail prevention technique based on
water storage is feasible as the condensed water volume can be stored in the
fuel tanks using a membrane to separate both liquids. The possibility of using this
technology arises because the condensed water volume is almost equal to the
fuel burnt volume, 1.00736 m3 of water are produced per m3 of fuel burnt.
Regarding the aircraft performance results, the water storage technique
implementation results in a 23.23% range reduction between baseline and water-
storing aircraft if both of them use the same amount of fuel, and a 17.35% fuel
burn penalty if both of them cover the same range. The limitation that restricts the
payload-range diagram of the water storage aircraft is the maximum T/O weight
during cruise. This limitation must be considered during cruise only if the weight
of the stored water exceeds the fuel burn weight, which happens when more than
79.4% of the produced water is stored. This is the case of the present analysis,
in which a 100% of the water is stored.
From the discussion of these results, it has been concluded that the range of the
baseline aircraft is a decisive factor in range reduction and fuel burn penalty of
the water-storing aircraft. On the one hand, for long range aircraft, the range
reduction is very significant, as the DP range is reduced from 12,335 km to 9,469
km if the same amount of fuel is used. The fuel burn penalty of long range aircraft
is also very notable, with an increase in fuel burnt of 17.35%. On the other hand,
for short and mid-range aircraft the range reduction is much lower because the
cruise phase is shorter. The fuel burn penalty is also lower, because the amount
of water produced and stored during cruise is much lesser. From these results, it
is concluded that the implementation of this contrail avoidance technique is most
attractive for short and mid-ranges.
88
Another important parameter that must be considered is the amount of water
stored. This project has been carried out considering the extreme case in which
all the water produced from fuel combustion is collected and stored on the aircraft.
Maybe not all the water has to be stored to prevent contrails, so this possibility
was also studied. For example, if only half of the total produced water is stored,
a 7.96% range reduction and a 9.17% fuel burn penalty are produced due to the
contrail avoidance technique implementation. Hence, it is concluded that the
amount of water collected and stored by the aircraft must be as small as possible
to enable both the prevention of contrails and the minimisation of the penalties.
On the basis of the results obtained from the aircraft performance analysis, the
Global Warming analysis was conducted to determine the net balance of the
positive effect of avoiding contrails and the negative effect of the additional CO2
emitted. The outcome of the implementation of the water storage technique is a
40%-50% reduction in the total aviation radiative forcing in year 2050. However,
the AIC present a great RF uncertainty. Then, if a 90% confidence range of the
AIC radiative forcing was considered, the reduction in the total aviation radiative
forcing varied between 18% and 72%.
These results showed a positive balance of the contrail prevention technique.
However, the selected metric to calculate the balance, the radiative forcing, is not
perfect to perform this analysis. The reason for this is that radiative forcing is
based on the momentary concentrations of past emissions and cannot account
for future impact of long-lived pollutant CO2. It was still selected because a more
proper metric to determine the Global Warming impact of aviation emissions has
not yet been defined. Accordingly, radiative forcing analysis provides only an
approximation to the impact of the contrail avoidance technique.
This project was a preliminary study to analytically assess the penalties that the
water collection and storage technique involved. The purpose of the project has
completely been fulfilled. Although a positive radiative forcing balance is
obtained, the implementation of the contrail avoidance technique in a near future
is not justified. Therefore, contrail avoidance techniques must be introduced in
the distant future if it is possible to obtain lesser fuel burn penalties. The utilisation
89
of CO2 reduction technologies in parallel with contrail prevention techniques could
reduce the time of implantation of this technique.
Finally, although some significant research has been conducted since the contrail
avoidance technique studied in this project was presented, this technology is still
at an early stage. However, it is acquiring a solid analytical base so that it could
be further investigated if the effect of the contrails was found to be very relevant
or legislation regarding contrails formation was created.
6.2 Future work
As stated in conclusions, the investigated contrail avoidance technique is still at
an early stage, so several studies and projects must be conducted in the future.
In this section, some of the recommendation for future work are explained.
First of all, the implementation of the studied contrail avoidance technique was
concluded to be attractive for short and mid-ranges. However, the present water
storage model was based on a large wide-body aircraft, which do not usually
cover short ranges. In the case an aircraft of reduced dimensions was selected
to implement this technique, the range reduction and fuel burnt penalties could
change in a different manner. For this reason, the same analyses performed in
this work should be carried out for the smaller aircraft, to see the effect of the
water storing technique.
In addition, in the current project only the kerosene was considered as fuel. The
use of another fuel could also be investigated. The aircraft performance of the
baseline would vary due to this change, and also the penalties due to the water
storage technique. This is because each fuel has a different emission index,
depending on their composition, and consequently, the combustion of each of
them would produce different amounts of water to be collected and stored on the
aircraft. A preliminary study of fuels was conducted in reference (Noppel 2007).
In the current project, the aircraft performance due to the contrails avoidance
technique was studied only during cruise. After this flight phase, the water was
assumed to be released at a lower altitude. This means that the aircraft must
descend some distance before releasing the stored water, which could have
90
critical effects on the aircraft performance. The study of this phase of the descent
has to be carefully analysed because of the extra weight carried by the aircraft.
Hence, new models must be developed for this descent phase.
Furthermore, a contrail prediction analysis to estimate the amount of water that
needs to be stored to prevent contrails should be produced. This is because the
penalties of the water storing technique decrease a lot if the amount of the stored
water is lower.
The release of the liquid water was not covered in the present thesis and it was
assumed that this release occurred at a lower altitude. However, it is necessary
to achieve a good understanding of how the different physical properties of water
particles affect to the environment when released at different altitudes. This
investigation would facilitate the decision of which altitude is the best to release
the water. Moreover, another possibility to the storage of water during cruise is
the water treatment and release into the atmosphere with different physical
properties. This study can be included in the altitude release analysis.
Finally, focusing again on the water storage case, a fraction of the collected water
could be utilised for another aircraft or engine purposes. For example, some
water could be used for aircraft systems, or for a reduction of the NOx emission
by injection of the condensed water into the combustion chamber of the engine.
This would be an interesting analysis to carry out as the penalties of the water
storage technique would be reduced, improving the NOx emissions too.
91
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APPENDICES
Appendix A Turbomatch
In this section, the Turbomatch input code is presented, in which the design point
and take-off off design point are included.
A.1 Input code
HIGH BYPASS TURBOFAN ENGINE PERFORMANCE SIMULATION Rolls-Royce THREE - SPOOL Trent 970-84 Modelled by: Fernando Lartategui Atela Date: 01-May-2016 //// OD SI KE VA FP -1 -1 INTAKE S1,2 D1-6 R200 COMPRE S2,3 D7-18 R202 V7 V8 PREMAS S3,4,21 D19-22 PREMAS S4,5,16 D23-26 V23 DUCTER S16,17 D27-31 R204 NOZCON S17,18,1 D32-33 R206 COMPRE S5,6 D34-45 R208 V34 V35 PREMAS S6,7,22 D46-49 COMPRE S7,8 D50-61 R210 V50 V51 PREMAS S8,9,19 D62-65 DUCTER S19,20 D66-70 R211 BURNER S9,10 D71-78 R212 MIXEES S10,20,11 TURBIN S11,12 D79-93 V80 TURBIN S12,13 D94-108 V95 TURBIN S13,14 D109-123 V110 NOZCON S14,15,1 D124-125 R216 PERFOR S1,0,0 D126-129,216,200,212,206,0,204,0,0,0 CODEND DATA ITEMS //// 1 10670.0 ! INTAKE: Altitude [m] 2 0.0 ! Deviation from ISA temperature [K] 3 0.85 ! Mach number 4 0.99 ! Pressure recovery 5 0.0 ! Deviation from ISA pressure [atm] 6 0.0 ! Relative humidity [%] 7 0.85 ! FAN I: Z = (R-R[choke])/(R[surge]-R[choke])
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8 1.0 ! Relative rotational speed PCN 9 1.65550 ! DP Pressure ratio 10 0.89836 ! DP ETA 11 0.0 ! Error selection 12 1.0 ! Compressor map number 13 1.0 ! Shaft number 14 1.0 ! PR degradation scaling factor 15 1.0 ! NDMF degradation scaling factor 16 1.0 ! ETA degradation scaling factor 17 -1.0 ! Effective component volume [m^3] (only for transient) 18 0.0 ! Stator angle (VSV) relative to DP 19 0.99731 ! PREMAS: LAMDA W Fan Bleed (Wout1/Win) [0.269%] 20 0.0 ! DELTA W 21 1.0 ! LAMBDA P 22 0.0 ! DELTA P 23 0.10331 ! PREMAS: LAMDA W Fan Bypass 8.68 (Wout1/Win) [1/9.68] 24 0.0 ! DELTA W 25 1.0 ! LAMBDA P 26 0.0 ! DELTA P 27 0.0 ! DUCTER: Switch 0: no reheating/intercooling 28 0.01 ! Total pressure loss:DELTA(P)/Pin=1% 29 0.0 ! Combustion efficiency (if BD(1)=1 or 2) 30 0.0 ! Limiting value for Fuel Flow: no = 100000 31 -1.0 ! Effective component volume [m^3] (only for transient) 32 -1.0 ! CONVERGENT NOZZLE: = "-1" exit area is fixed) 33 1.0 ! Scaling factor 34 0.85 ! IP COMP: I: Z = (R-R[choke])/(R[surge]-R[choke]) 35 1.0 ! Relative rotational speed PCN 36 4.00000 ! DP Pressure ratio 37 0.8998 ! DP ETA 38 1.0 ! Error selection 39 4.0 ! Compressor map number 40 2.0 ! Shaft number 41 1.0 ! PR degradation scaling factor 42 1.0 ! NDMF degradation scaling factor 43 1.0 ! ETA degradation scaling factor 44 -1.0 ! Effective component volume [m^3] (only for transient) 45 0.0 ! Stator angle (VSV) relative to DP 46 0.98087 ! PREMAS: LAMDA W Customer bleed (Wout1/Win) [1.913%] 47 0.0 ! DELTA W 48 1.0 ! LAMBDA P 49 0.0 ! DELTA P
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50 0.85 ! HP COMPRESSOR I: Z = (R-R[choke])/(R[surge]-R[choke]) 51 1.0 ! Relative rotational speed PCN 52 6.43693 ! DP Pressure ratio 53 0.90000 ! DP ETA 54 1.0 ! Error selection 55 5.0 ! Compressor map number 56 3.0 ! Shaft number 57 1.0 ! PR degradation scaling factor 58 1.0 ! NDMF degradation scaling factor 59 1.0 ! ETA degradation scaling factor 60 -1.0 ! Effective component volume [m^3] (only for transient) 61 0.0 ! Stator angle (VSV) relative to DP 62 0.80894 ! PREMAS: LAMDA W Cooling bypass (Wout1/Win) [19.106%] 63 0.0 ! DELTA W 64 1.0 ! LAMBDA P 65 0.0 ! DELTA P 66 0.0 ! Reheat selector 67 0.01 ! Pressure loss 1% 68 0.0 ! Reheat comb efficiency 69 0.0 ! Max reheat fuel flow 70 -1.0 ! Effective component volume [m^3] (only for transient) 71 0.06 ! COMBUSTOR: Pressure loss (=DP/P inlet total) 72 0.998 ! Combustion efficiency 73 -1.0 ! Fuel flow (if -1.0, TET must be defined) 74 0.0 ! (>0) Water flow [kg s-1 or lb s-1] or (<0) WAR 75 288 ! Temperature of water stream [K] 76 0.0 ! Phase of water (0=liquid, 1=vapour) 77 1.0 ! ETA degradation scaling factor 78 -1.0 ! Effective component volume [m^3] (only for transient) ! MIXEES: no brick data 79 0.0 ! HP TURBINE: Auxiliary or power output [W] 80 0.8 ! Relative to max enthalpy drop to temperature ratio:ZT 81 0.6 ! Relative non-dim speed CN 82 0.92097 ! DP ETA 83 -1.0 ! Relative non-dim PCN (= -1 for compressor turbine) 84 3.0 ! Shaft Number (for power turbine, the value 0 is used) 85 5.0 ! Turbine map number 86 -1.0 ! Power law index "n" (POWER = PCN^n) 87 1.0 ! TF degradation scaling factor 88 1.0 ! DH degradation scaling factor 89 1.0 ! ETA degradation scaling factor 90 -1.0 ! Rotor rotational speed [RPS] (only for transient)
100
91 -1.0 ! Rotor moment of inertia [kg.m^2] (only for transient) 92 -1.0 ! Effective component volume [m^3] (only for transient) 93 0.0 ! NGV angle, relative to D.P. 94 0.0 ! IP TURBINE: Auxiliary or power output [W] 95 0.8 ! Relative to max enthalpy drop to temperature ratio:ZT 96 0.6 ! Relative non-dim speed CN 97 0.91021 ! DP ETA 98 -1.0 ! Relative non-dim PCN (= -1 for compressor turbine) 99 2.0 ! Shaft Number (for power turbine, the value 0 is used) 100 5.0 ! Turbine map number 101 -1.0 ! Power law index "n" (POWER = PCN^n) 102 1.0 ! TF degradation scaling factor 103 1.0 ! DH degradation scaling factor 104 1.0 ! ETA degradation scaling factor 105 -1.0 ! Rotor rotational speed [RPS] (only for transient) 106 -1.0 ! Rotor moment of inertia [kg.m^2] (only for transient) 107 -1.0 ! Effective component volume [m^3] (only for transient) 108 0.0 ! NGV angle, relative to D.P. 109 0.0 ! LP TURBINE: Auxiliary or power output [W] 110 0.8 ! Relative to max enthalpy drop to temperature ratio:ZT 111 0.6 ! Relative non-dim speed CN 112 0.92934 ! DP ETA 113 -1.0 ! Relative non-dim PCN (= -1 for compressor turbine) 114 1.0 ! Shaft Number (for power turbine, the value 0 is used) 115 5.0 ! Turbine map number 116 -1.0 ! Power law index "n" (POWER = PCN^n) 117 1.0 ! TF degradation scaling factor 118 1.0 ! DH degradation scaling factor 119 1.0 ! ETA degradation scaling factor 120 -1.0 ! Rotor rotational speed [RPS] (only for transient) 121 -1.0 ! Rotor moment of inertia [kg.m^2] (only for transient) 122 -1.0 ! Effective component volume [m^3] (only for transient) 123 0.0 ! NGV angle, relative to D.P. 124 -1.0 ! CONVERGENT NOZZLE: = "-1" exit area is fixed) 125 1.0 ! Scaling factor 126 -1.0 ! ENGINE RESULTS: Power output (= -1 for aero engine) 127 -1.0 ! Propeller efficiency (= -1 for turbojet/turbofan) 128 0.0 ! Scaling index ("1" = scaling, "0" = no scaling) 129 0.0 ! Only for scaling: Required DP net thrust/shaft power -1 1 2 518.7613 ! item 2 at station 1 = Mass flow(kg/s) 10 6 1603.5774 ! item 6 at station 10 = Total temperature (K) -1 ! End of DP data
101
1 0.0 !Take-Off (OD Point) 3 0.0 -1 10 6 1743.38933 -1 -3
102
Appendix B Hermes
In this appendix, the geometric, mission and engine specification data Hermes
input is presented.
B.1 Geometric, mission and engine specification data
!Input file for the geometric, mission and engine specifications of the aircraft Aircraft inspired by A380-841; Engine inspired by Trent 970-84 ENGINE_SPEC: RR_Trent970-84-DP Modelled by: Fernando Lartategui Atela – Modified from (Qureshi 2016) A380-800 input file. Date: 14-May-2016 !GEOMETRIC DETAILS ! Wing Geometry 845 ! AcWingAInit - Wing area 7.5 ! AcWingAspr - Aspect ratio 0.203 ! AcWingCThir - Thickness chord ratio 33.5 ! AcWingSwpa - Sweep angle (in degrees) 0.26 ! AcWingTpr - Taper ratio 0.132 ! AcWingRtThir - Root thinkness ratio 0.087 ! AcWingOtThir - Outer thikness ratio ! Tailplane Geometry 222.57 ! AcTailAInit - Tailplane area 4.4 ! AcTailAspr - Aspect ratio 0.203 ! AcTailCThir - Thickness chord ratio 30 ! AcTailSwpa - Sweep angle (in degrees) 0.383 ! AcTailTpr - Taper ratio 0.132 ! AcTailRtThir - Root thinkness ratio 0.087 ! AcTailOtThir - Outer thikness ratio ! Fin Geometry 134.2 ! AcFinA - Fin area 28.99 ! AcFinSpan - Span 0.115 ! AcFinCThir - Thickness chord ratio 28.99 ! AcFinSwpa - Sweep angle (in degrees) 0.424 ! AcFinTpr - Taper ratio 0.132 ! AcFinRtThir - Root thinkness ratio 0.087 ! AcFinOtThir - Outer thikness ratio ! Fuselage Geometry 7.14 ! AcFusDia - Diameter 70.4 ! AcFusLen - Length ! Landing Gear Characteristics - ***0=default, 1=Bogie, 2=Small twin wheel*** 2 ! AcLGTyp1 - Landing gear type 1 ! AcLgTyp2= 0,1,2 1 ! AcLgTyp3= 0,1,2 1 ! AcLgTyp4= 0,1,2,-1 *** -1=if the aircraft only has 3 LG 1 ! AcLgTyp5= 0,1,2,-1 *** -1=if the aircraft only has 3 LG
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2 ! AcLGDepl - Number of segments with LG down for descent ! High lift systems 1 ! AcFlapSegTo -No of Seg with flaps deployed during TO 3 ! AcFlapSegApp - No of Seg with flaps deployed for approach 2 ! ACFlapSegLand - No of Seg with flaps deployed for Landing 1.10 ! AcExtSrTo - Wing area extension ratio TO 1.15 ! AcExtSrApp - Wing area extension ratio approach 1.20 ! AcExtSrLand - Wing area extension ratio Landing 5.0 ! AcFlapAngleTo - Flap Angle TO IN DEGREES 20.0 ! AcFlapAngleApp - Flap Angle Approach 30.0 ! AcFlapAngleLand - Flap Angle Land 1 ! AcFlapSlots - Number of Flap Slots (1-3) ! Engine Geometry 3.944 ! EngNacDiaInit - Diameter (EASA 2013) 5.4775 ! EngNacLenInit - Length (EASA 2013) !XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX !MISSION/WEIGHT SPECIFICATION DATA 245026 ! AcAfrWtInit - Airframe weight [A380-841] (Jane’s 2015) 4 ! AcEngNb - Number of Engines 6246 ! EngWtInit - Engine weight, (kg/engine) (EASA 2013) 83700 ! AcPldWt - Payload weight, (kg) 100000 ! AcFuelWtInit - Fuel weight, (kg) 83700 ! AcPldWtmax - Max payload weight, kg [A380-841] (Airbus 2014) 259465 ! AcFuelWtmax - Max fuel weight, kg [standard] (Jane’s 2015) 385995 !AcLandWtmax - Max landing weight, kg [A380-800] (Jane’s 2015) 560000 ! AcToWtmax - Max take-off weight, kg [A380-800] (Jane’s 2015) 0.0 ! DVFuelRatio - Diversion fuel weight to total fuel weight (%) 0.05 ! AcFuelContpc - Relative contingency fuel to remain after landing (%) 12335 ! AcRng - Range to be flown (km) ! Mission (2) 300. ! AcRngdv - Diversion Range to be flown (km) 2 ! AcMisType - Mission to be flown (1-fixed fuel get range) or (2-fixed range for given Pload get fuel) 1 ! DvMission - specify if diversion mission is to be run (1- NO diversion mission) or (2- YES to diversion mission) !XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX !CRUISE MAIN/DIVERSION AND HOLDING DATA 1 ! number of cruise altitudes and Mach numbers 1 ! number of cruise Temperature Deviations from ISA day (the trip is splitted equally into this number of parts. Every part has the respective DTisa) 1 ! number of diversion cruise altitudes 2 ! Cruise small segment time Interval in (min). This value affects the accuracy of the calculations, so keep it small. 10670 ! Cruise altitudes in [m] (WARNING: THE ALTITUDES CANNOT BE THE SAME) 0.85 ! Cruise Mach numbers, the same number with cruise altitudes 0 ! Cruise ambient temperature deviation from ISA, in [K] 6096 ! Diversion cruise altitudes (m)
104
0.65 ! Diversion cruise Mach numbers, 0 ! Diversion cruise ambient temperature deviation from ISA, in [K] 457.0 ! Holding altitude (m) 30. ! Hold Time in (min) !XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX !CLIMB DATA 22 ! Climb segments Number ! Altitudes(m) | DTisa(K) | EAS(knots) | Power(0.-1.) 557.2 0 0. 250. 1. 900.0 0 0. 250. 1. 1500.0 0 0. 250. 1. 1981.2 0 0. 250. 1. 2438.4 0 0. 250. 1. 2743.2 0 0. 250. 1. 3048.0 0 0. 250. 1. 3048.1 0 0. 320. 1. 3657.6 0 0. 320. 1. 4267.2 0 0. 320. 1. 4876.8 0 0. 320. 1. 5486.4 0 0. 320. 1. 6096.0 0 0. 320. 1. 7620.0 0 0. 320. 1. 8077.2 0 0. 320. 1. 9144.0 0 0. 320. 1. 10058.0 0 0. 320. 1. 10668.0 0 0. 320. 1. 11227.0 0 0. 320. 1. 11887.0 0 0. 320. 1. 12000.0 0 0. 320. 1. 12496.8 0.0. 320. 1. !XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX !DESCENT DATA 10 ! Descent segments Number ! The altitudes are dependent on the final cruise altitude. So they are calculated inside the code. ! DTisa(K) | TAS(knots) | Power(0.-1.) ****Note: the last 3 power settings use the Approach rating 0. 233.1 1. ! Flight Idle Rating 0. 221.5 1. ! Flight Idle Rating 0. 202.9 1. ! Flight Idle Rating 0. 195.0 1. ! Flight Idle Rating 0. 183.1 1. ! Flight Idle Rating 0. 164.7 1. ! Flight Idle Rating 0. 150.9 1. ! Flight Idle Rating 0. 140.0 1. ! Approach Rating 0. 135.0 1. ! Approach Rating 0. 135.0 1. ! Approach Rating !XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
105
!LANDING DATA 0.01 ! Note: Do not put final landing altitude = 0.0, use a very small value instead. 135.00 ! Approach speed (TAS), in [m/s] 0.00 ! Deviation from standard atmosphere for Landing in [K] 6.00 ! Duration of Landing phase in [min] !XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX !TAXI and TAKE-OFF DATA 0.02 ! AcTaxiCf1 - Runway Friction Coefficient 0.3 ! AcTaxiCf2 - Runway Friction Coefficient, BREAKES-OFF 10.0 ! AcTaxiTime - Taxi time in [min] (12mins for LR, 9mins for SR) 1.0 ! AcToTime - Take-off time in [min] 0.00 ! AcToALT - Take-off altitude in [m] 0.00 ! Take-off temperature deviation from ISA in [K] 0.0 ! TakeOff Derate (Real Values from 0 to 1, 0.0->100% of Maximum Thrust, 1.0->0% of Maximum Thrust) !XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX !NUMERICAL TOLERANCES AND INITIAL GUESSES 1.D-11 ! Climb and Descent internal loops relative accuracy 1.D-09 ! Main mission range relative accuracy 1.D-09 ! Diversion mission range relative accuracy 1.D-07 ! Fuel weight outer iteration loop relative accuracy 480.D00 ! Main mission duration guess 1 (for secant method, modify it only if there is a convergence problem) 260.D00 ! Main mission duration guess 2 (for secant method, modify it only if there is a convergence problem) !XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX !TMATCHCALLS SPECIFICATIONS (*****HERMES DOES NOT READ THIS PART*****) !-------------------------------------------------------------------------- !Number of points in the Engine Design Point input file to be skipped !before the mission profile starts (including the design point) 1 !-------------------------------------------------------------------------- !Burner exit station number 10 !-------------------------------------------------------------------------- !ENGINE TET RANGE FOR EACH PHASE 3 ! TET number for Take Off 4 ! TET number for Climb 24 ! TET number for Main and Diversion Cruise 2 ! TET number for Flight Idle (Descent) and Ground Idle 3 ! TET number for Approach 10. ! TET step change in [K] for Take Off 10. ! TET step change in [K] for Climb 5. ! TET step change in [K] for Main and Diversion Cruise 25. ! TET step change in [K] for Flight Idle (Descent) and Ground Idle 25. ! TET step change in [K] for Approach
106
1750. ! Max TET in [K] for Take Off 1740. ! Max TET in [K] for Climb 1680. ! Max TET in [K] for Main Mission Cruise 1250. ! Max TET in [K] for Flight Idle (Descent) and Ground Idle 1325. ! Max TET in [K] for Approach !-------------------------------------------------------------------------- !ADDITIONAL ENGINE PERFORMANCE STATION VECTOR DATA (STATION, ITEM) 1 ! Number of additional engine performance station vector data !Station | Item 10 6 !-------------------------------------------------------------------------- !ADDITIONAL ENGINE PERFORMANCE BRICK DATA (DESCRIPTION, BRICK NO, ITEM) 1 ! Number of additional engine performance brick data !Description | BrickNo | Item (WARNING: The BrickNo is defined according to the tabular output file of Turbomatch ) HPC_PCN 8 2 !-------------------------------------------------------------------------- !ADDITIONAL OFF DESIGN ENGINE CONFIGURATIONS (LIKE BLEEDS etc.) !Specify additional off design specification for each flight phase (e.g. for brick data 26 "26 0.95") 0 ! Number of additional off design specifications for each flight phase !INPUT AND OUTPUT FILE PATHS !Engine Design Point Specification file (input to Hermes) RR_Trent970-84-DP.dat
107
Appendix C Radiative forcing analysis
Tables of the radiative forcing model to analyse the Global Warming impact of
aviation are provided in this Appendix.
C.1 Future scenarios radiative forcing
In this section, the radiative forcing of years 2005, 2020 and 2050 is provided in
Table C-3. In the case of the year 2050, four different situations are presented
depending on the overall aviation growth and on the engine technology level. The
meaning of the abbreviation of each situation is given in Table C-1. In addition,
the fuel consumption of aviation is forecasted for the future scenarios and
provided in Table C-2. The data given in Table C-3 was extracted from reference
(Lee et al. 2009). Although other documents, like reference (Chen and Gettelman
2016), provided the radiative forcing of contrails and AIC in future scenarios, they
were not selected as they did not give RF information about CO2 and other
aviation emissions. Moreover, the RF data of aviation emissions in the year 2005
was provided in reference (Lee et al. 2009) are very accurate according to other
documents. Even the RF of AIC mean value is very precise in accordance with
reference (Burkhardt and Kärcher 2011). When AIC are included in the RF of total
aviation, linear contrails are not considered. Finally, the percentage to the right of
the columns shows the increase of radiative forcing of the emission since 2005.
A1 Upper-range overall growth of aviation
B2 Mid-range overall growth of aviation
t1 Advances in airframe and engine technology follow current trend
t2 More emphasis is placed on reducing NOx to the CO2 detriment
Table C-1: Abbreviation of different scenarios in 2050
Scenario 2005 2020 2050
A1t1
2050
A1t2
2050
B2t1
2050
B2t2
Fuel (Tg/year) 232.4 336 816 844.9 568.8 588.9
Table C-2: Aviation fuel consumption of the different scenarios (Lee et al. 2009)
108
Table C-3: Radiative forcing of aviation emissions in years 2005, 2020 and 2050 Adopted from (Lee et al. 2009)
Table C-4: Radiative forcing of aviation emissions if contrails are prevented in 2005
Table C-5: Radiative forcing of aviation emission if contrails are prevented in 2020
2005 0.0280 0.0263 -0.0125 0.0138 0.0028 -0.0048 0.0034 0.0118 0.0330 0.0550 0.0762
2020 0.0408 46% 0.0406 54% -0.0192 54% 0.0214 55% 0.0040 43% -0.0070 46% 0.0050 47% 0.0202 71% 0.0470 42% 0.0844 53% 0.1112 46%
2050 A1t1 0.0763 173% 0.1098 317% -0.0520 316% 0.0578 319% 0.0097 246% -0.0169 252% 0.0121 256% 0.0554 369% 0.1140 245% 0.1944 253% 0.253 232%
2050 A1t2 0.0777 178% 0.0853 224% -0.0404 223% 0.0449 225% 0.0100 257% -0.0175 265% 0.0125 268% 0.0554 369% 0.1180 258% 0.1830 233% 0.2456 222%
2050 B2t1 0.0733 162% 0.0765 191% -0.0363 190% 0.0402 191% 0.0067 139% -0.0118 146% 0.0084 147% 0.0372 215% 0.0800 142% 0.1540 180% 0.1968 158%
2050 B2t2 0.0745 166% 0.0594 126% -0.0282 126% 0.0312 126% 0.0070 150% -0.0122 154% 0.0087 156% 0.0372 215% 0.0820 148% 0.1464 166% 0.1912 151%
CO2 Ozone Methane Total NOxTotal aviation
(excluded AIC)
Total aviation
(included AIC)
Water
vapour
Sulphate
aerosolSoot aerosol
Linear
contrail
AIC (included
contrails)
0.0280 0.0028 0.0118 0.0330 0.0550 0.0762
0.0430 54% 0 0 0 0.0624 13% 0.0624 -18%
0.0847 202% 0 0 0 0.1377 150% 0.1377 81%
0.0863 208% 0 0 0 0.1262 129% 0.1262 66%
0.0812 190% 0 0 0 0.1180 114% 0.1180 55%
0.0826 195% 0 0 0 0.1103 100% 0.1103 45%
CO2AIC (included
contrails)
Water
vapour
Linear
contrail
Total aviation
(included AIC)
2050 A1t2*
2020*
2050 A1t1*
Total aviation
(excluded AIC)
2005
2050 B2t1*
2050 B2t2*
0.0280 0.0028 0.0118 0.0330 0.0550 0.0762
0.0408 46% 0.0040 43% 0.0202 71% 0.0470 42% 0.0844 53% 0.1112 46%
0.0825 194% 0 0 0 0.1355 146% 0.1355 78%
0.0841 200% 0 0 0 0.1240 125% 0.1240 63%
0.0789 182% 0 0 0 0.1157 110% 0.1157 52%
0.0803 187% 0 0 0 0.1080 96% 0.1080 42%
CO2Water
vapour
Linear
contrail
AIC (included
contrails)
Total aviation
(excluded AIC)
Total aviation
(included AIC)
2005
2020
2050 A1t1**
2050 A1t2**
2050 B2t1**
2050 B2t2**
109
C.2 Radiative forcing scenarios- Contrails avoided in 2005
If contrails are avoided in 2005, the radiative forcing of some emissions varies
according to the assumptions stated in the methodology. The new radiative
forcing of total aviation and these pollutants since 2005 is given in Table C-4. The
radiative forcing of the not mentioned aviation emissions was considered
constant. Finally, the percentage to the right of the columns shows the increase
of radiative forcing of the emission since 2005.
C.3 Radiative forcing scenarios- Contrails avoided in 2020
If contrails are avoided in 2020, the radiative forcing of some emissions varies
according to the assumptions stated in the methodology. The new radiative
forcing of total aviation and these pollutants since 2020 is given in Table C-5. The
radiative forcing of the not mentioned aviation emissions was considered
constant. Finally, the percentage to the right of the columns shows the increase
of radiative forcing of the emission since 2005.
C.4 Data for the creation of the bar charts
The data used for the creation of the bar charts is provided in this appendix
section, more specifically from Table C-6 to Table C-8. In addition, the percentage
change of the radiative forcing from the first case, which is contrails are not
avoided, is included in the right hand column of the radiative forcing of the last
two cases.
CO2 Contrails No contrails 2005 No contrails 2020
2005 0.0280 0.0280 0.0% 0.0280 0.0%
2020 0.0408 0.0430 5.4% 0.0408 0.0%
2050 A1t1 0.0763 0.0847 11.0% 0.0825 8.1%
2050 A1t2 0.0777 0.0863 11.1% 0.0841 8.2%
2050 B2t1 0.0733 0.0812 10.7% 0.0789 7.7%
2050 B2t2 0.0745 0.0826 10.8% 0.0803 7.8%
Table C-6: CO2 radiative forcing of the different future scenarios for the three
assumed cases
110
Total (no AIC) Contrails No contrails 2005 No contrails 2020
2005 0.0550 0.0550 0.0% 0.0550 0.0%
2020 0.0844 0.0624 -26.0% 0.0844 0.0%
2050 A1t1 0.1944 0.1377 -29.2% 0.1355 -30.3%
2050 A1t2 0.183 0.1262 -31.0% 0.1240 -32.2%
2050 B2t1 0.154 0.1180 -23.4% 0.1157 -24.8%
2050 B2t2 0.1464 0.1103 -24.7% 0.1080 -26.2%
Table C-7: Total aviation radiative forcing of the different future scenarios for the
three assumed cases (AIC not considered)
Total (AIC) Contrails No contrails 2005 No contrails 2020
2005 0.0762 0.0762 0.0% 0.0762 0.0%
2020 0.1112 0.0624 -43.9% 0.1112 0.0%
2050 A1t1 0.253 0.1377 -45.6% 0.1355 -46.5%
2050 A1t2 0.2456 0.1262 -48.6% 0.1240 -49.5%
2050 B2t1 0.1968 0.1180 -40.1% 0.1157 -41.2%
2050 B2t2 0.1912 0.1103 -42.3% 0.1080 -43.5%
Table C-8: Total aviation radiative forcing of the different future scenarios for the
three assumed cases (AIC considered)
C.5 AIC radiative forcing sensitivity analysis
In this appendix, the radiative forcing of total aviation of the three assumed cases
is calculated considering the minimum and maximum values of the 90%
confidence range of the AIC radiative forcing. These values were extracted from
reference (Lee et al. 2009). Accordingly, Table C-9 is designed using the
minimum values of AIC radiative forcing, while Table C-10 is created using the
maximum values of AIC radiative forcing.
In addition, the percentage change of the radiative forcing from the first case,
which is contrails are not avoided, is included in the right hand column of the two
last cases’ radiative forcing.
111
Total (AIC) Contrails No contrails 2005 No contrails 2020
2005 0.0557 0.0557 0.0% 0.0557 0.0%
2020 0.0802 0.0624 -22.2% 0.0802 0.0%
2050 A1t1 0.1770 0.1377 -22.2% 0.1355 -23.5%
2050 A1t2 0.1666 0.1262 -24.2% 0.1240 -25.6%
2050 B2t1 0.1438 0.1180 -18.0% 0.1157 -19.5%
2050 B2t2 0.1362 0.1103 -19.0% 0.1080 -20.7%
Table C-9: Total aviation radiative forcing of the different future scenarios for the
three assumed cases (AIC considered) [Minimum AIC RF values]
Total (AIC) Contrails No contrails 2005 No contrails 2020
2005 0.1299 0.1299 0.0% 0.1299 0.0%
2020 0.1892 0.0624 -67.0% 0.1892 0.0%
2050 A1t1 0.4440 0.1377 -69.0% 0.1355 -69.5%
2050 A1t2 0.4426 0.1262 -71.5% 0.1240 -72.0%
2050 B2t1 0.3288 0.1180 -64.1% 0.1157 -64.8%
2050 B2t2 0.3292 0.1103 -66.5% 0.1080 -67.2%
Table C-10: Total aviation radiative forcing of the different future scenarios for
the three assumed cases (AIC considered) [Maximum AIC RF values]